Thermally responsive polymer monoliths

摘要

Porous polymer monoliths are made thermally responsive by functionalizing/grafting the pores with thermally responsive polymers and copolymers. Depending on the reaction conditions employed, the grafted polymer can either completely block flow through micrometer-sized pores in the monoliths or control the flow rate through the monoliths. The grafted monoliths are useful as thermal gates, thermal valves, and for isocratic hydrophobic interaction chromatography of proteins.