Synthesis of Magnetite-Based Polymers as Mercury and Anion Sensors Using Single Electron Transfer-Living Radical Polymerization

Haridharan Neelamegan; Der-Kang Yang; Gang-Juan Lee; Sambandam Anandan; Andrea Sorrentino; Jerry J Wu

doi:10.1021/acsomega.9b03653

Synthesis of Magnetite-Based Polymers as Mercury and Anion Sensors Using Single Electron Transfer-Living Radical Polymerization

ACS Omega. 2020 Mar 27;5(13):7201-7210. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.9b03653. eCollection 2020 Apr 7.

Authors

Haridharan Neelamegan¹, Der-Kang Yang¹, Gang-Juan Lee¹, Sambandam Anandan², Andrea Sorrentino³, Jerry J Wu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Feng Chia University, Taichung 407, Taiwan.
² Nanomaterials & Solar Energy Conversion Lab, Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Trichy 620015, India.
³ Institute for Polymer, Composites and Biomaterials (IPCB), Italian National Research Council (CNR), P.le Enrico Fermi 1, Portici, 80055 Naples, Italy.

Abstract

In this work, hydrophilic polymers modified with iron oxide nanoparticles, such as iron oxide-poly(2-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) [P(DMAEMA)] magnetite-based and iron oxide-poly(acrylamide) [P(AAm)] magnetite-based polymers, were prepared via a single electron transfer-living radical polymerization approach. Bile acid and 2-bromo-2-methylpropionic acid were covalently attached onto the surface of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, and these immobilized magnetite nanoparticles were used as an initiator for the polymerization. The binding capabilities of different ions, such as Hg²⁺, CN^-, Cl^-, F^-, and NO₃ ^-, were tested using these polymeric sensors monitored by UV-vis spectroscopy. Magnetite-based P(DMAEMA) showed enhanced binding capability due to the presence of tertiary amine groups. In addition, it was possible to easily separate the bound ions from aqueous media using an external magnetic field.