An Interesting Class of Porous Polymer-Revisiting the Structure of Mesoporous α-d-Polysaccharide Gels

Robin J. White*, Peter S. Shuttleworth, Vitaliy L. Budarin, Mario De Bruyn, Anna Fischer, James H. Clark

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The processes involved in the transformation of non-porous, native polysaccharides to their highly porous equivalents introduce significant molecular complexity and are not yet fully understood. In this paper, we propose that distinct changes in polysaccharide local short-range ordering promotes and directs the formation of meso- and micro-pores, which are investigated here using N2 sorption, FTIR, and solid-state 13CNMR. It is found that an increase in the overall double helical amylose content, and their local association structures, are responsible for formation of the porous polysaccharide gel phase. An exciting consequence of this local ordering change is elegantly revealed using a 19FNMR experiment, which identifies the stereochemistry-dependent diffusion of a fluorinated chiral probe molecule (1-phenyl-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol) from the meso- to the micro-pore region. This finding opens opportunities in the area of polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases and asymmetric catalyst preparation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)280-288
Number of pages9
JournalChemSusChem
Volume9
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Jan 2016

Bibliographical note

© 2016, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. K. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

Keywords

  • Chiral
  • Diffusion
  • Polysaccharides
  • Porosity
  • Xerogels

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