Chloroform sorption on nanoporous crystaflione and amorphous phases of syndiotactic polstyrene

The transport of chloroform in films of atactic polystyrene and of semicrystalline syndiotactic polystyrene in its nanoporous form (delta-form) has been investigated by gravimetric analysis. Experimental tests have been performed at 35, 49, and 56 degrees C and at several vapor pressures ranging from 0.5 to 100 Torr. Nonequilibrium lattice fluid prediction of the amorphous sorption behavior was used to enucleate the sorption contribution of the crystalline nanoporous phase from semicrystalline samples. Sorption behavior of the crystalline phase has been interpreted on the basis of Langmuir equation. Moreover, the chloroform sorption at low activities in the crystalline nanoporous phase has been predicted by using Grand Canonical Monte Carlo molecular simulations. lsosteric heats of sorption were also experimentally evaluated for the crystalline phase, and compared with the corresponding prediction of molecular simulation. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.