Microsized uniform magnetic polymer microspheres with carboxyl groups

A two-step synthetic method has been described to produce uniform magnetic polymer microspheres with carboxyl groups. The approach used proposes modification of polymer microspheres with magnetic nanoparticles, therefore allowing to expand range of sizes, shapes and surface group concentration of the resulting magnetic polymer microspheres. Synthesized magnetic polymer particles of 5.2 µm in size and carboxyl group concentration of 350 µmol/g react to magnetic fields, allowing them to be easily pulled from the solution after only 4 min of exposure to a permanent magnet. The desired size and morphology of the polymer particles were achieved by studying the influence of the swelling agent concentration, seed particle amount and size, inhibitor concentration, and initiator type.