Microporous organic polymers for efficient removal of sulfamethoxazole from aqueous solutions

Abstract Widespread use of pharmaceuticals, especially antibiotics is causing serious contamination of both surface and underground water. In this study, four different microporous organic polymers (MOP): microporous triazine polymer (MCTP), carbonyl-incorporated aromatic polymer (CBAP), CBAP-functionalized with ethylenediamine (CBAP-EDA), and CBAP-functionalized with sulfonic acid (CBAP-SO3H) were synthesized and tested for adsorptive removal of the common antibiotic sulfamethoxazole (SMX) from aqueous solutions. MCTP with the largest BET surface area (1406 m2/g) attained equilibrium in 1 h and showed the highest SMX adsorption capacities (ca. 483 mg/g), significantly better than that of a commercial activated carbon (AC, 259 mg/g) with the sequence of AC