Preparation and characterization of azlactone functionalized polymer supports and their application as scavengers

A series of cross-linked porous copolymer supports based on N-(p-vinylbenzoyl)-2-methylalanine (VBM), styrene and divinylbenzene was prepared by aqueous suspension copolymerization in the presence of butan-2-ol used as porogen. The cross-linked copolymer beads were characterized by elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FT-IR and confocal Raman spectrometries. It was observed that the VBM incorporation was effective and homogeneous within the beads. Those VBM functionalized supports were converted into azlactone functionalized supports using acetic anhydride and their scavenging efficiency towards different amines was measured. It appeared that 90% of benzylamine was quenched after 5 h.