## 2 Results  
### DVB-_co_-GMA-_TETA_ Synthesis and Preliminary Characteristics  
Figure 1 presents the chemical structure of monomers and synthesis of the amine derivative. For the synthesis of porous polymers in spherical form, the suspension polymerization method was applied [11; 12; 13; 14]. The use of glycidyl methacrylate, a monomer that possesses two functional groups (methacrylic and epoxy), leads to the obtention of polymeric microspheres with reactive sites on the surface, capable for further modification. Epoxides in the presence of amine are subject to a ring-opening reaction with good performance, which has been confirmed by elemental analysis. The elemental composition of DVB-_co_-GMA-TETA is the following: 67.08% C, 7.68% H and 5.8% N.  
In Table 1, characteristic parameters of the porous structures of the parent DVB-_co_-GMA microspheres are presented. The specific surface area (S\({}_{\text{BET}}\)) and total pore volume (V\({}_{\text{TOT}}\)) for the DVB-_co_-GMA copolymer are 152 m\({}^{2}\)/g and 0.524 cm\({}^{3}\)/g, respectively. The average pore diameter has a value of 13.82 nm whereas the most probable pore diameter possesses two maxima, 4 and 20 nm. The obtained microspheres can be classified as mesoporous materials. We observed a decrease of S\({}_{\text{BET}}\)  
Figure 1: Chemical structure and functionalization of microspheres. and an increase of V\({}_{\text{TOT}}\) after functionalization. The obtained data were compared with those available in the literature for the commercially available polystyrene-divinylbenzene (PS-DVB) resin Amberlite XAD-4 and polyacrylic-divinylbenzene (PA-DVB) resin Amberlite XAD-7, nano-conducting polymer composites and bentonite (Table 1). In Figure 2a,c, photos of the microspheres obtained using optical microscope are presented. As one can see, copolymers possess a spherical shape which influences, among others, to reduce the flow resistance. Photos of the microspheres, after swelling with acetone, were also taken (Figure 2b,d), and the diameter of the microspheres increased by approximately 20%. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Resin Name** & \begin{tabular}{c} **Specific Surface Area** \\ **S\({}_{\text{BET}}\) (m\({}^{2}\)/g)** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **Total Pore Volume** \\ **V\({}_{\text{TOT}}\) (cm\({}^{3}\)/g)** \\ \end{tabular} & \
\begin{tabular}{c} **Average Pore Diameter** \\ **(nm)** \\ \end{tabular} & **Ref.** \\ \hline DVB-\(\circ\)-GMA & 152 & 0.524 & 13.82 & This study \\ DVB-\(\circ\)-GMA-TEA & 139 & 0.596 & 17.00 & study \\ \hline Amberlite XAD-4 & \multirow{2}{*}{750} & \multirow{2}{*}{0.5} & \multirow{2}{*}{5.0} & \multirow{2}{*}{[15,16]} \\ (PS-DVB) & & & & \\ \hline Amberlite XAD-7 & \multirow{2}{*}{450} & \multirow{2}{*}{1.14} & \multirow{2}{*}{9.0} & \multirow{2}{*}{[16,17]} \\ (PA-DVB) & & & & \\ \hline Polyaniline/SiO\({}_{2}\) & \multirow{2}{*}{72.4} & \multirow{2}{*}{-} & \multirow{2}{*}{-} & \multirow{2}{*}{[18]} \\ \(\text{Polypyrrole/SiO}_{2}\) & & & & \\ \(\text{nano-composite}\) & & & & \\ \hline Bentonite (Mendoza,
\begin{tabular}{c} Argentina) \\ \end{tabular} & 8.77 & 0.315 & 7.3 & [19] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Parameters of the porous structures of the divinylbenzene copolymer with glycidyl methacrylate (DVB-\(\circ\)-GMA) and functionalized microspheres (DVB-\(\circ\)-GMA-TEA) compared with literature data. Figure 2: Photos of the synthesized microspheres (**a,c**) and (**b,d**) those swollen with acetone obtained using optical microscope Morphologi G3. ATR-FT-IR Spectroscopy  
The ATR-FT-IR spectra of the parent DVB-_co_-GMA copolymers, and after modification with TETA, are presented in Figure 3a,b. In the both spectra, C-H stretching vibrations of -CH\({}_{2}\)- groups are observed at 2930-2932 cm\({}^{-1}\). The vibrations of the -OH group are visible at 3474 cm\({}^{-1}\). The intense bands at 1724 cm\({}^{-1}\) were assigned to the stretching vibrations of carbonyl groups C=O ester moieties.