Preparation of monodisperse melamine-formaldehyde microspheres via dispersed polycondensation

We have successfully synthesized relatively monodisperse and cross-linked melamine-formaldehyde (MF) microspheres by dispersed polycondensation and subsequent pH adjustment with serum replacement cleaning. The average particle sizes (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $\overline {D_w }$ \end{document}: weight-average and\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $\overline {D_n }$ \end{document}: number-average), the polydispersity index (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $\overline {D_w } /\overline {D_n }$ \end{document}), the number of particlesNp, and the gel content of the M-F microspheres were observed by varying the pH, the surfactant concentration, and the polymerization temperature. We observed that both the pH and the polymerization temperature were predominant factors in determining\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $\overline {D_n }$ \end{document} andNp, but the effect that the temperature and pH had on the gel content (> 94% for all samples) was negligible. The exponents of the slopes of plots ofNp versus pH and surfactant concentration were −10 and 0.6, respectively. Particle nucleation and growth were achieved within short periods; the incessant coagulation occurred even in the presence of surfactants.