## 3 Results and Discussion
### Chemical Structure Characterization
Comparing the spectra of DVB-GMA 2:1 samples, one can see that for DVB-GMA 2:1 db bands of the GMA have stronger intensities, while those from DVB are the same as in DVB-GMA 2:1 t. This indicate the polar solvents system (alcohols) increases the retention of GMA in the organic phase of the reaction mixture; therefore, a larger amount of GMA monomer can be incorporated into the polymer network. In the case of DVB-GMA 2:1 t, where toluene is used as the porogene, the solubility of GMA is limited, which results in its slightly smaller share in the polymer structure. These results are also in good agreement with the elemental analysis data (Table 3). On the other hand, toluene is less reactive compared to the alcohols in the porogenic mixture. For this reason, in the spectra of the DVB-GMA t copolymer, all epoxide bands can be easily identified (ca. 1249, 900, 840, 800 and 762 cm\({}^{-1}\)). However, not all of these bands are present in the spectra of the DVB-GMA 2:1 db polymer. For instance, vibrations at 1249 and 762 cm\({}^{-1}\) practically disappeared, while the rest decreased (significantly). These changes are accompanied by the appearance of a new band at ca. 1050 cm\({}^{-1}\) (\(\
u\)(O-H)) and an intensification in the range 3200-3600 cm\({}^{-1}\), suggesting the partial decomposition of the epoxide ring with the formation of a primary alcohol and an ether (bands in the same range as for esters) as substitution products. The mechanism of an epoxide ring opening reaction was already described in a previous paper [18]. This is probably why the originally well-separated bands originating from C-O-C vibrations (\(\
u_{\rm s}\) and \(\
u_{\rm as}\)) merged into one with a shoulder on the higher wavenumbers side. The registered infrared spectra confirm an intended course of the syntheses, especially the presence of peaks coming from vibrations of ester bonds in the range of 1200-1100 cm\({}^{-1}\) and at 1724-1726 cm\({}^{-1}\) for toluene and 1720-1724 cm\({}^{-1}\) for decanol and benzyl alcohol as a pore-forming diluent, respectively. The intensity of these vibrations increases with the increasing volume fraction of GMA in the polymer. The spectra also show bands from stretching vibrations of the aromatic ring at 708-710 cm\({}^{-1}\) and from deformation vibrations of the ring at 1109 cm\({}^{-1}\) and 1107 cm\({}^{-1}\) for polymers obtained, respectively, in the presence of the above-mentioned pore-forming diluents. The spectra of the tested polymers also show low-intensity peaks coming from the vibrations of the vinyl group in the range of 998-901 cm\({}^{-1}\) \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**pDVB**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**DVB-GMA 2:1**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**DVB-GMA 1:1**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**DVB-GMA 1:2**} \\ \hline  & **t** & **db** & **theor.** & **t** & **db** & **theor.** & **t** & **db** & **theor.** & **t** & **db** & **theor.** \\ \hline C & 89.6 & 90.3 & 92.3 & 79.3 & 76.6 & 80.6 & 75.3 & 75.8 & 75.0 & 70.15 & 70.6 & 69.5 \\ H & 8.0 & 7.8 & 7.7 & 7.7 & 7.7 & 7.5 & 7.4 & 7.5 & 7.4 & 7.3 & 7.1 & 7.3 \\ O & 2.0 & 1.6 & 0 & 12.6 & 15.3 & 11.9 & 17.0 & 16.4 & 17.6 & 22.2 & 22.0 & 23.2 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Elemental analysis with accuracy \(\pm\)0.5%. Their presence may indicate the existence of unreacted unsaturated bonds in the polymer structure. The low intensities of these bands prove a high degree of cross-linking of the prepared polymer microspheres [18]. The results of the elemental analysis collected in Table 3 allow us to compare the chemical composition of the synthetized polymers with the theoretical values calculated based on the assumed molar ratio. All the determined results are very close to the theoretical values, confirming the expected course of the reaction. The best correlation between experimental and theoretical values was observed for DVB-GMA 1:1 polymers. Quite good similarity was also obtained for pDVBs; however, a content of oxygen of approximately 2% indicates the slight oxidation of the polymer.