Abstract
In this study, we prepared novel amphiphilic phenyl–polysucrose microspheres by a two‐step pathway. Crosslinked polysucrose microspheres were synthesized with soluble polysucrose and epichlorohydrin by inversed suspension polymerization first. Then, phenyl–polysucrose microspheres were obtained through the reaction between the polysucrose microspheres and glycidyl phenyl ether. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy proved that the microspheres had both hydroxyl groups and phenyl ligands. The quantitative determination of the phenyl groups indicated the optimal conditions for synthesis of the phenyl–polysucrose microspheres. The properties of the phenyl–polysucrose beads showed that the dry density increased from 1.38 to 2.29 g/mL, the equilibrium water content decreased from 77.30 to 33.68%, and the hydroxyl content remained at about 41.70 mmol/g when the phenyl content was increased from 0.00 to 2.64 mmol/g. The results of protein adsorption showed that the saturated adsorption capacities of the phenyl–polysucrose microspheres increased with increasing ion strength compared with the polysucrose microspheres. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009