Abstract
The number and concentration of micropollutants in aqueous environments are increasing. Two such micropollutants include the pharmaceutical, propranolol hydrochloride, and dye intermediate, 2-naphthol. Here, we describe the synthesis of both linear and crosslinked pyridine-functionalized copolymers that bind and remove propranolol hydrochloride and 2-naphthol from water solutions. Propranolol hydrochloride and 2-naphthol both contain hydrogen-bond-donor groups, and the pyridine moiety on the polymer acts as a hydrogen-bond acceptor to facilitate removal. Copolymers with different amounts of pyridine comonomer are synthesized, and as the amount of the pyridine comonomer is increased, the ability of the polymer to bind and remove the contaminant also increases. The concentrations of propranolol hydrochloride and 2-naphthol decreased by approximately 20–40% and 60–88%, respectively, depending on the polymer type that is used in the binding experiment. A control polymer was synthesized by using styrene in place of the pyridine monomer. In analogous binding experiments, the styrene polymer decreases the concentration of propranolol hydrochloride by 2% and 2-naphthol by 26%. Thus, the binding effectiveness is significantly reduced when the hydrogen-bond-acceptor group is not present on the polymer. We also show that the best performing crosslinked pyridine-functionalized polymer is reusable. Overall, these polymer adsorbents demonstrate the potential for removal of micropollutants from water.
Highlights
The fast-growing global consumption of products such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and personalcare products has led to the presence of organic micropollutants in the environment, especially in aquatic systems (Schwarzenbach et al, 2006)
We set out to synthesize pyridine-functionalized polymers that could act as adsorbents for micropollutants containing hydroxyl groups
Copolymers of 4VP and BMA have been synthesized previously (Goswami and Dutta, 2013); to our knowledge, they have not been utilized as an adsorbent for removing pollutants
Summary
The fast-growing global consumption of products such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and personalcare products has led to the presence of organic micropollutants in the environment, especially in aquatic systems (Schwarzenbach et al, 2006). We postulated that polymers functionalized with aromatic groups and hydrogen-bond-acceptor moieties (DíezPascual et al, 2016) could form noncovalent interactions with the contaminants to facilitate adsorption. We demonstrate both linear and crosslinked pyridine-functionalized polymers can bind and remove PPL-HCl and 2NO from water solutions. Both the linear and crosslinked polymers contain n-butylmethacrylate (BMA) and 4vinylpyridine (4-VP) as comonomers, and the crosslinked polymers include ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the crosslinker (Figure 1A). A control polymer synthesized using styrene in place of the pyridine monomer exhibited significantly reduced binding ability
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