Abstract: | A series of porous ethylvinylbenzene–divinylbenzene (EVB–DVB) copolymers with DVB contents ranging from 22.0 to 98.4% were prepared using various amounts of toluene as the inert diluent, and studies were made on the copolymers as to their swelling properties, the stability of their pore structure, and the relationship between swelling in nonsolvents and variations in their pore structure. The swelling experiments showed that the ethanol regains of the copolymers were closely related to the course of phase separation, and the increases in both the DVB content and the volume fraction of monomers in the organic phase resulted in enhanced capacity of the highly crosslinked copolymers to keep swelling in solvents having extremely small affinity for these copolymers. The variations in pore structure, sometimes quite considerable, for copolymers pretreated with different solvents were observed even at DVB content up to 98.4% and further studies showed that a consistent relationship existed between pore volume variation and volume swelling ratio in ethanol for toluene modified copolymers. |