PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF SOME SILICAS AND SILICA DERIVATIVES

An extensive study of four types of porous silica supports has been pe rformed, with particular emphasis on their physical and morphological characteristics. These silicas were modified by reacting the surface s ilanol groups present with either 3-(trimethoxysilyl) propylmethacryla te or 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane or 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilan e, to produce derivatives with suitable functional groups for further utilisation in the immobilisation of biological compounds. The silicas and their derivatives used were fully characterised with regard to pa rticle size distribution (laser light scattering), specific surface ar ea (BET method), pore size distribution (gas adsorption and mercury po rosimetry), density (helium pycnometry), yield of grafting (TGA) and c hemical composition (FTIR/DRIFT). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All r ights reserved.