Novel Chemical Architectures Based on Beta-Cyclodextrin Derivatives Covalently Attached on Polymer Spheres

Stefan Bucur; Ionel Mangalagiu; Aurel Diacon; Alexandra Mocanu; Florica Rizea; Raluca Somoghi; Adi Ghebaur; Aurelian Cristian Boscornea; Edina Rusen

doi:10.3390/polym13142338

Novel Chemical Architectures Based on Beta-Cyclodextrin Derivatives Covalently Attached on Polymer Spheres

Polymers (Basel). 2021 Jul 16;13(14):2338. doi: 10.3390/polym13142338.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Chemistry, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, 11 Carol 1st Bvd, 700506 Iasi, Romania.
² Institute of Interdisciplinary Research-CERNESIM Centre, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, 11 Carol I, 700506 Iasi, Romania.
³ Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 1-7 Gh. Polizu Street, 011061 Bucharest, Romania.
⁴ National Research and Development Institute for Chemistry and Petrochemistry-ICECHIM, 202 Splaiul Independenţei, 060021 Bucharest, Romania.
⁵ Advanced Polymer Materials Group, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu Street, 011061 Bucharest, Romania.

Abstract

This study presents the synthesis and characterization of polymer derivatives of beta-cyclodextrin (BCD), obtained by chemical grafting onto spherical polymer particles (200 nm) presenting oxirane functional groups at their surface. The polymer spheres were synthesized by emulsion polymerization of styrene (ST) and hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), followed by the grafting on the surface of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) by seeded emulsion polymerization. The BCD-polymer derivatives were obtained using two BCD derivatives with hydroxylic (BCD-OH) and amino groups (BCD-NH₂). The degree of polymer covalent functionalization using the BCD-OH and BCD-NH₂ derivatives were determined to be 4.27 and 19.19 weight %, respectively. The adsorption properties of the materials were evaluated using bisphenol A as a target molecule. The best fit for the adsorption kinetics was Lagergren's model (both for Q_e value and for R²) together with Weber's intraparticle diffusion model in the case of ST-HEMA-GMA-BCD-NH₂. The isothermal adsorption evaluation indicated that both systems follow a Langmuir type behavior and afforded a Q_max value of 148.37 mg g^-1 and 37.09 mg g^-1 for ST-HEMA-GMA-BCD-NH₂ and ST-HEMA-GMA-BCD-OH, respectively. The BCD-modified polymers display a degradation temperature of over 400 °C which can be attributed to the existence of hydrogen bonds and BCD thermal degradation pathway in the presence of the polymers.

Keywords: adsorption isotherms; adsorption kinetics; beta-cyclodextrin; bisphenol A adsorption; emulsion polymerization.