Thiol-functionalized hyper-crosslinked polymers with hierarchical porosities for the capture and recovery of heavy metal contaminants
AssigneeNorthwestern University
InventorsAnanya M. Agrawal, SonBinh T. Nguyen, Sanjiban Chakraborty
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Abstract
Thiol-functionalized, hyper-crosslinked vinylbenylchloride-divinybenzene (VBC-DVB) copolymers having high mesopore volumes are provided. Also provided are methods of making the hyper-crosslinked copolymers and methods of using the hyper-crosslinked copolymers in the capture and remediation of metals, including heavy metals.
Claims16
A crosslinked vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer that is thiol-functionalized and has a mole ratio of vinylbenzylchloride monomer to divinylbenzene monomer in a range from 99:1 to 80:20, wherein the crosslinked vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer comprises both mesopores and micropores and further wherein the mesopores make up at least 20% of a total pore volume of the crosslinked vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer.
A method for extracting metal ions from a sample, the method comprising:
- contacting a thiol-functionalized crosslinked vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer with a sample comprising metal ions, whereby the metal ions are adsorbed by the thiol-functionalized crosslinked vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer;
- and
- removing the thiol-functionalized crosslinked vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer with the adsorbed metal ions from the sample.
A method of forming a thiol-functionalized crosslinked vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer, the method comprising:
- copolymerizing vinylbenzylchloride monomers and divinylbenzene monomers into a vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer in the presence of a porogenic solvent;
- crosslinking the vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer;
- chloromethylating the vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer to form a chloromethylated vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer;
- and
- thiolating the chloromethylated vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer using a thiourea to form the thiol-functionalized crosslinked vinylbenzylchloride-divinylbenzene copolymer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.