Chromate separation by selective crystallization

A new paradigm to remove toxic chromate anions from aqueous solution by crystallization of chromate-water clusters with imine-linked guanidinium cationic ligands is introduced. The guanidium-based cationic ligand was easily prepared through the imine condensation of an aldehyde and aminoguanidine hydrochloride. The cationic imine-linked guanidinium ligand (BBIG-Cl) showed a high removal capacity (292.5 mg/g) in the solutions. Rapid decontamination of chromate anions from the wastewater by this cationic ligand was resulted from an instantaneous crystallization. The produced guanidium chromate salts have an extremely low solubility (K-sp,K- BBIG = 8.19 x 10(-9)). Such superior removal performance of these materials was attributed to the charge-assisted hydrogen bonding between the cationic ligand and chromate-water hydrate anions, which was revealed by the single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In addition, the successful recovery of the guanidium-based ligand makes it more attractive for real-world applications. (C) 2019 Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.