Synthesis of porous copolymers network based on methyl methacrylate and evaluation in the Cu (II) extraction

In this article, copolymers based on methyl methacrylate (MMA) and divinylbenzene (DVB) were synthesized by aqueous suspension. The influence of the diluents used during the polymerization on the resulting copolymer structure was evaluated. The employed diluents were heptane (HEP), toluene (TOL) and ethyl acetate (AcOEt). The resins were characterized by apparent density, infrared analysis, thermogravimetry, swelling degree and scanning electron microscopy. The results have indicated that the solvating strength of the diluents named above during the network formation is mainly responsible for the structural characteristics of porous MMA/DVB copolymer beads. The porosity characteristics and the content of methyl methacrylate were significant for the copper extraction process.