Synthesis and adsorption properties of chitosan-crown ether resins

Two kinds of novel chitosan-crown ether resins, Schiff base type chitosan-benzo-15-crown-5 (CTS-B15)and chitosan-benzo-18-crown-6 (CTS-B18), were synthesized through the reaction between -NH2 in chitosan and -CHO in 4′-formyl benzo-crown ethers. Their structures were characterized by elemental analysis and FT-IR spectra analysis. The elemental analysis results show that the mass fractions of nitrogen in CTS-B15 and CTS-B18 are much lower than those of chitosan. The results of FT-IR spectra of CTS-B15 and CTS-B18 reveal that there exist characteristic peak of C= N, N-H and Ar, and characteristic peak of pyr anoside in the chain of chitosan-crown ether resins, showing that the structures of chitosan-crown ethers are as expected. The adsorption properties of CTS-B15 and CTS-B18 for Pd2+ , Cu2 + and Hg2+ were studied and the experimental results show that these adsorbents have both good adsorption characterization and especially high particular adsorption selectivity for Pd2+ when Cu2+ and Hg2+ are in coexistence, and the coefficients of selectivity of CTS-B15 and CTS-B18 for metal ions are KPd2+/cu2+ =7.56, KPd2+/Hg2+ = 68.00, Kcu2+/Hg2+ = 9.00 and KPd2+/cu2+ = 6.00, KPd2+/Hg2+ = 19. 00, Kcu2+/Hg2+ = 3.00, respectively.