Bioinspired, Carbohydrate-Containing Polymers Efficiently and Reversibly Sequester Heavy Metals

Water scarcity and heavy metal pollution are significant challenges in today’s industrialized world. Conventional heavy metal remediation methods are often inefficient and energy-intensive, and produce chemical sludge. To address these issues, we developed a bioinspired, carbohydrate-containing poly...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACS central science 2024-09, Vol.10 (9), p.1782-1788
Main Authors: Jeon, Sungjin, Haynie, Teron, Chung, Samuel, Callmann, Cassandra E.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Water scarcity and heavy metal pollution are significant challenges in today’s industrialized world. Conventional heavy metal remediation methods are often inefficient and energy-intensive, and produce chemical sludge. To address these issues, we developed a bioinspired, carbohydrate-containing polymer system for efficient and selective heavy metal removal. Using ring opening metathesis polymerization, we synthesized polymers bearing amphiphilic glucuronate side chains capable of selectively binding heavy metal cations in mixed media. In samples containing high concentrations of heavy metals (>550 ppb), these polymers rapidly form a filterable precipitate upon metal capture, reducing the concentration of cation to
ISSN:2374-7943
2374-7951
DOI:10.1021/acscentsci.4c01010