Micron-sized cellulose microspheres were prepared through sol-gel method using NaOH/urea solution to dissolve cellulose, then cross-linked by 1,6-hexanylene diisocyanate （HDI）, toluene 2,4-diisocyanate （TDI） and 1,4-phenylene diisocyanate （PDI）, respectively. The reaction conditions for partial modification of the microspheres were studied. The degree of substitution （DS） in cellulose was controlled by adjusting the reaction conditions. HDI-crosslinked microspheres were partially modified with phenyl isocyanate to obtain chiral stationary phases （CSPs）. The CSPs of a lower degree of crosslinking （DC） showed better chiral recognition ability than those of a higher DC. Meanwhile the CSPs prepared by pre- modification exhibited better chiral recognition ability than those prepared by pre-crosslinking.
The aim of this work is optimizing the techniques to prepare pure cellulose microspheres, which are used as packing adsorbents for high-performance liquid chromatography. Thereupon, cellulose was dissolved in a pre-cooled NaOH/urea solution, from which various-size microspheres were prepared. The volume-average diameters were controlled approximately at 30 p,m, 8 ~tm and 4 pm grades when cyclohexane, liquid paraffin and pump oil were used as dispersants, respectively. The present investigations reveal that higher viscosity dispersant is suitable for the preparation of smaller-size microspheres, while larger size microspheres are prepared preferably using lower-viscosity dispersant. The chiral stationary phase derived from 8 μm grade microspheres can separate the enantiomers of efavirenz.
