Abstract
Several closely related branched structures related to the well-established benzyl ether dendrimers were tested as hosts for the removal of pyrene from water. Fluorescence spectroscopy based complexation studies showed that the first generation benzyl ether dendrimers removed on average 94 % of pyrene from a saturated aqueous solution after 30 min. By contrast, branched systems containing modified benzyl ether or cyclohexane functional groups removed between 0 and 75 % of pyrene at the same time point while systems with benzyl amine resulted in a 77 % decrease in pyrene. This selectivity eroded over two days after which time all dendrimeric types removed pyrene to approximately the same extent. Inclusion constants of 109–1011 M−1 were calculated for the branched systems studied.
Highlights
Dendrimers are highly structured macromolecules composed of a central core connected to two or more repetitive branching units
The difference in fluorescence intensity between the methyl ester monomers and corresponding branched systems disappeared after 2 days. These results indicate that the dendritic architecture is necessary for effective removal of the pyrene, while the composition of the monomer does impact how effective the dendrimer is in removing the pollutant
The results described above illustrate that the films effectively removed pyrene from an aqueous solution with some selectivity at the 30 min time point
Summary
Dendrimers are highly structured macromolecules composed of a central core connected to two or more repetitive branching units. Generations, are added by sequential synthetic iterations from the periphery or core of the dendrimer. The highly branched architecture makes dendrimers attractive for various applications including drug delivery, catalysis, light harvesting, and organic electronic devices (Astruc et al 2010). Dendrimers possess interior voids which are ideal for entrapping small guests such as gas molecules, ions, and low molecular weight organic compounds (Zimmerman and Lawless 2001). This physical property has led to employing dendrimers in the field of environmental remediation
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