The present invention provides porous materials for use in solid phase extractions and chromatography. In particular, the materials exhibit superior properties in the SPE analysis of biological materials. In certain aspects, the porous materials comprise a copolymer of a least one hydrophobic monomer and at least one hydrophilic monomer, wherein more than 10% of the BJH surface area of the porous material is contributed by pores that have a diameter greater than or equal to 200 Å, wherein said material has a median pore diameter of about 100 Å to about 1000 Å, or both. In some embodiments, the at least one hydrophilic monomer has a log P value of less than 0.5. In some embodiments, the at least one hydrophilic monomer is selected from 4-acryloymorphine, N-(3-methoxypropyl)acrylamide, N,N′-methylenebis(acrylamide), acrylonitrile, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, methyl acrylate, 4-acetoxystyrene, 4-vinyl pyridine, or a boronic-acid-containing monomer, among others.

A method for producing a high-purity carboxylic acid ester, the method including bringing a crude carboxylic acid ester that contains anionic impurities and Ag, Al, Au, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Na, Sn, and Zn metal impurities into contact with a cation-exchange resin, followed by bringing the crude carboxylic acid ester into contact with an anion-exchange resin to obtain to provide a high-purity carboxylic acid ester in which the Ag, Al, Au, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Na, Sn, and Zn metal impurity content are each less than 1 ppb and the anionic impurity content is less than 1 ppm.

A method for producing a high-purity carboxylic acid ester, the method including bringing a crude carboxylic acid ester that contains anionic impurities and Ag, Al, Au, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Na, Sn, and Zn metal impurities into contact with a cation-exchange resin, followed by bringing the crude carboxylic acid ester into contact with an anion-exchange resin to obtain to provide a high-purity carboxylic acid ester in which the Ag, Al, Au, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Na, Sn, and Zn metal impurity content are each less than 1 ppb and the anionic impurity content is less than 1 ppm.

A method for producing a high-purity carboxylic acid ester, the method including bringing a crude carboxylic acid ester that contains anionic impurities and Ag, Al, Au, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Na, Sn, and Zn metal impurities into contact with a cation-exchange resin, followed by bringing the crude carboxylic acid ester into contact with an anion-exchange resin to obtain to provide a high-purity carboxylic acid ester in which the Ag, Al, Au, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Na, Sn, and Zn metal impurity content are each less than 1 ppb and the anionic impurity content is less than 1 ppm.

A filter includes a porous molding, the porous molding being a sintered product of mixed powder containing dry gel powder including an ion exchange resin and thermoplastic resin powder, or a swelled body of the sintered product. When water having an electric resistivity value of 18 MΩ.Math.cm or more is allowed to pass through a space velocity of 1200 hr−1, the electric resistivity value of water after passage is 15 MΩ.Math.cm or more. To provide a filter that can efficiently remove metal ions in a solution to be treated, and easily acquire a solution having an extremely low content of metal ions.

A filter includes a porous molding, the porous molding being a sintered product of mixed powder containing dry gel powder including an ion exchange resin and thermoplastic resin powder, or a swelled body of the sintered product. When water having an electric resistivity value of 18 MΩ.Math.cm or more is allowed to pass through a space velocity of 1200 hr−1, the electric resistivity value of water after passage is 15 MΩ.Math.cm or more. To provide a filter that can efficiently remove metal ions in a solution to be treated, and easily acquire a solution having an extremely low content of metal ions.

A continuous resin regeneration system includes a process by which resin in need of being recharged is continuously recharged and cleaned with a plurality of two-set filtration columns so that resin regeneration and the flow of influent is continuous and interrupted. Downstream filtration columns also undergo this cycling but at slower and related rates as the first column with the dirtiest water will naturally degrade resin faster than the downstream columns. Contaminated influent is cleaned by the continuously recharged resin in multiple column sets. The degree of cleaning of earlier filtration columns affects the resin flow rate of later filtration columns.

The present invention provides a process for preparing a functionalised polymeric chromatography medium, which process comprises (I) providing two or more non-woven sheets stacked one on top of the other, each said sheet comprising one or more polymer nanofibres, (II) simultaneously heating and pressing the stack of sheets to fuse points of contact between the nanofibres of adjacent sheets, and (III) contacting the pressed and heated product with a reagent which functionalises the product of step (II) as a chromatography medium.

The present invention provides a process for preparing a functionalised polymeric chromatography medium, which process comprises (I) providing two or more non-woven sheets stacked one on top of the other, each said sheet comprising one or more polymer nanofibres, (II) simultaneously heating and pressing the stack of sheets to fuse points of contact between the nanofibres of adjacent sheets, and (III) contacting the pressed and heated product with a reagent which functionalises the product of step (II) as a chromatography medium.

The invention relates to mixtures containing basic anion exchangers and flow regulators, the use thereof for the adsorption of acidic gases and of carbon dioxide in particular, a process for continuous gas adsorption, and heat exchangers that contain the mixtures containing basic anion exchangers and flow regulators.