Synthesis and characterisation of porous polymers

State‐of‐the‐art electron microscopic studies have been made of the ultrastructure of a matrix of specifically prepared styrene‐divinylbenzene resin sorbents. Image analysis methods have been applied to quantify the porous morphology of these resins in the “dry”, “freeze‐dried” and “frozen” states. Significant swelling has been demonstrated in the wet state. Highly porous Polyhipe® monoliths have been prepared and used to produce a polyamide‐impregnated composite support for use in solid phase synthesis of peptides. The composite shows good pressure resistance and allows high yields of pure peptides to be achieved. Polyhipe® polymers with very high surface areas (up to 350 m2g−1) have been prepared by applying the methodologies of porous particulate resin production to achieve highly porous walls in the Polyhipe® structures. Finally, novel procedures are described for the preparation of porous particulate polyimides and polybenzimidazoles involving a paraffin oil dispersion methodology. These thermooxidatively stable resins have been prepared with modest surface areas of ∼30 m2g−1 and offer good prospects for use as supports for alkene transition metal complex oxidation catalysts.