The synthesis and characterisation of porous and monodisperse, chemically modified hypercrosslinked poly(acrylonitrile)-based terpolymer as a sorbent for the adsorption of acidic pharmaceuticals

• Main Authors: Subri Nur Nida Syamimi, Jamil Siti Nurul Ain Md., Cormack Peter A. G., Abdullah Luqman Chuah, Kamaruzaman Sazlinda, Adeyi Abel A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 2020-06-01
• Series: e-Polymers
• Subjects: chemical modification; hypercrosslinked terpolymer; monodispersity; pharmaceuticals; selectivity
• Online Access: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/epoly.2020.20.issue-1/epoly-2020-0037/epoly-2020-0037.xml?format=INT

The synthesis and characterization of porous poly(acrylonitrile(AN)-co-divinylbenzene-80 (DVB-80)-co-vinylbenzylchloride (VBC)) polymers with high specific surface areas and weak anion-exchange character have been successfully researched. The hypercrosslinked (HXL) microspheres were chemically modified with 1,2-ethylenediamine (EDA) to enhance the adsorption selectivity of the HXL materials. The zeta potential of EDA-modified HXL poly(AN-co-DVB-80-co-VBC) revealed that the surface of the modified terpolymer was positively charged. The FT-IR spectra of the chemically modified hypercrosslinked poly(AN-co-DVB-80-co-VBC) showed that the nitrile groups derived from the AN unit were utilised by the presence of diamine groups. The BET-specific surface areas of the EDA-modified hypercrosslinked poly(AN-co-DVB-80-co-VBC) was 503 m2 g−1; meanwhile, the specific surface area of the HXL terpolymer was 983 m2 g−1. The adsorption isotherm data were well fitted by both the Langmuir and Freundlich models, whereas the adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. This study confirms that the EDA-modified hypercrosslinked poly(AN-co-DVB-80-co-VBC) terpolymer is a potential adsorbent for the adsorption of acidic pharmaceuticals.