Adenine-bearing covalent organic frameworks via one-pot tandem reaction for selective adsorption of Ag+

Abstract

The discharge of industrial wastewater containing Ag + leads to serious environmental pollution and can even influence human health, which has aroused widespread concern and was required to be solved by effective methods. As a novel adsorbent, covalent organic frameworks exhibit great potential in environmental remediation attributing to their large specific surface area and devisable structure. Herein, a facile and effective one-pot tandem process via “click” reaction was designed to synthesize adenine grafted COF (COF-Ad) as an adsorbent material for Ag + extraction. Besides, prepared COF-Ad exhibits high crystallinity, regular pore structure, moderate surface area and high hydrophilic. Because of the coordination of adenine functional groups with Ag + , the adsorption capacity of COF-Ad can reach 61.23 mg/g in the 40 mg/L Ag + aqueous solutions. Furthermore, the COF-Ad exhibited high selectivity to Ag + in the solution containing Ag + and different competing ions. Most importantly, this designed strategy offers a new perspective for the post-functionalization of COFs as adsorbent materials. • Adenine-functionalized COFs (COF-Ad) was designed and prepared by one-pot tandem process. • COF-Ad exhibited highly selective adsorption for Ag + in the solution containing different competing ions. • This one-pot tandem reaction provides a facile and efficient method for post-functionalization of COFs.