Abstract: | Carbonaceous adsorbents are obtained by thermolysis of sulfonated macroreticular polystyrene ion exchange resins at 300-500°C. The hard, spherical, carbonaceous particles react exothermally with elemental chlorine to form products containing up to 38% Cl. The chlorinated particles react readily with polyamines to form anion exchange resins with capacities of up to 2.2 meq/g dry resin. Less than 60% of the nitrogen atoms in the particles are utilized as ion exchange sites. The carbonaceous particles can also be chloromethylated with chloromethyl methyl ether or chlorinated with sulfuryl chloride and then aminated with polyamines to form anion exchange resins, sulfonated with sulfuric acid or chlorosulfonic acid to form strongly acidic cation exchange resins, or chlorosulfonated and then aminated with polyamines to form anion exchange resins. Model structures of the thermolyzed resins containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon fragments are proposed to explain their chemical reactivities. |