Removal of triazine-based herbicides on specific polymeric sorbent: batch studies

Abstract

Abstract The triazine-based herbicides removal from aqueous solution on specific polymeric adsorbent was studied. Poly(divinylbenzene) modified with maleic anhydride in Diels-Alder reaction was selected for the sorption experiments because molecular structures of triazine derived herbicides exhibit complementarity to the arrangement of functional groups in the polymer. The presence of carboxyl groups in adsorbent structure resulted in specific directional interactions, such as hydrogen bonds, which can intensify adsorption ability towards triazines. In the case of both atrazine and terbuthylazine the effect is more intensive, whereas in sorption of simazine and propazine the non-specific interactions have higher importance than hydrogen bonds. Specific interactions in investigated systems are between the hydrogen atom of the amino group of triazine and the carbonyl oxygen atom of the carboxyl group of the modified poly(divinylbenzene) (O…H–N). Only in the case of terbuthylazine the creation of hydrogen bonds between hydroxyl hydrogen atom of carboxylic group and nitrogen atom containing free electron pair from triazine (O–H…N) was observed. The sorption of simazine, atrazine and propazine does not depend on pH in the acidic region, whereas in the case of terbuthylazine an increase in sorption efficiency is observed while pH decreases.