Synthesis a new sorbent for preconcentration and separation of aluminum ion from aqueous solutions (with emphasis on subterranean water samples)

Subject Areas : Water Pollution

N. Yazdanian ¹ (Dep. of Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Islamic Azad University North Tehran Branch)
H. Ahmad Panahi ² (Dep. of Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Islamic Azad University Center Tehran Branch)
M. Rabani ³ (Dep. of Marine Chemistry, Faculty of Marine Science and Technology, Islamic Azad University North Tehran Branch)

Received: 2012-04-15 Accepted : 2013-01-07 Published : 2014-05-22

Keywords: Preconcentration, Aluminum ions, Ionic imprinted polymer, Allyl glycidyl ether, Iminodiacetic acid,

Abstract :

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are synthetic polymeric materials with specific recognition sites complementary in shape, size and functional groups to the template molecule, involving an interaction mechanism based on molecular recognition. In this study, we have prepared a novel ion imprinted polymer (IIP) for removal of aluminium ions in solution sample. The imprinted polymer was prepared by copolymerization of allyl glycidyl ether/ iminodiacetic acid (AGE/IDA) as functional monomers in the presence of N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide  as crosslinker. The polymerization was carried out in bulk with free radical initiation using 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN). The polymer particles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and elemental analysis. The effect of various experimental conditions, like pH, adsorption and desorption time and type of eluent were investigated and optimized. The optimum pH for quantitative aluminium retention was 4.5, while elution was completed with 5mL of 0.5M nitric acid. The total capacity of IIP was found to be 62.4mg g-1in 20ºC. The method was applied to the recovery and determination of aluminium in real samples. The imprinted polymers exhibited good characteristics for adsorption and preconcentration of target aluminium.