Synthesis, characterization and adsorption performance of semi-crystalline/liquid crystalline polyether chelating resins

A series of polyether chelating resins with pendent biphenyl mesogenic groups were synthesized, and the chemical structure of monomers and polymers were confirmed by IR and (1)H NMR detection. The thermal properties of resins were investigated by the Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Polarizing Microscopy (POM), and the results showed that only the product of polyepichlorohydrin grafted with 4-cyano-4'-hydrobiphenyl, i.e., HPCN resin, was a kind of nematic liquid crystal polymer with typical schlieren texture (70-130 (0)C) and other resins were semi-crystalline. The results of adsorption experiments showed that all five resins exhibited a higher adsorption capacity (>1.0 mmol/g) for Cu (II) and Hg (II) and medium adsorption ability for Cd ( II), Zn (II), Pb (II) and Co (II), however, a poor adsorption capacity (<0.3 mmol/g) for Mg (II), indicating that this type of polyether resins have a better selective adsorption for above metal ions. In addition, the adsorption capacity of HPnCP resins was generally higher than that of HPd and HPCN owing to the existence of terminal pyrrole coordination groups in HPnCP resins.