Synthesis of uniform PMMA microspheres employing modified SPG (shirasu porous glass) emulsification technique

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Abstract
Application of the particulate microporous glass membrane (SPG) was extended to the synthesis of fairly monodisperse poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microspheres. Hydrophilic monomers have been believed to yield polymer particles of a broad size distribution when the SPG technique was employed. This difficulty was overcome by adopting the droplet swelling technique. The primary uniform emulsion composed of a mixture of hydrophobic diluent (and/or monomer), cosurfactant, and initiator was prepared with an SPG membrane and was allowed to absorb MMA (and diluent) under the principle of the degradative diffusion process from droplets in the secondary emulsion. The coefficient of variation of PMMA spheres was around 10%. Porous PMMA spheres possessing up to 185 m2/g of specific surface area were obtained as well as one‐eyed spheres and smooth and solid spheres. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.