Thermoresponsive extraction of cadmium(II) ions by poly(TPEN-NIPA) gels; Effect of chain length and branched spacer structure on gel formation and extraction behavior

Inaba, Yusuke*; Tsumagari, Takayuki*; Kida, Tatsuya*; Watanabe, Wataru*; Nakajima, Yasutaka*; Fukuoka, Sachio*; Mori, Atsunori*; Matsumura, Tatsuro  ; Nakano, Yoshio*; Takeshita, Kenji*

-(tetrakis-2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine (TPEN) derivatives bearing a polymerizable double bond in the substituent structure of the pyridine ring are synthesized and subjected to copolymerization with -isopropylacrylamide in the presence of AIBN. The obtained poly(TPEN-NIPA) gels show thermo-responsive swelling/shrinking behaviors and are employed for the extraction of cadmium(II) ion from the aqueous solution to examine the relationship of the gel characteristics and the extraction performance. The polymer gels composed of the TPEN derivative bearing C3, C4, C10 and branched C3 spacer chains are synthesized and temperature-dependent extraction behavior of cadmium ion is compared. These gels extract Cd(II) ion efficiently from the aqueous solution in the swelling state at 5C, while little extraction is observed at 45C with shrinking. It is found that poly(TPEN-NIPA) gel of branched C3 spacer (C3b) shows the excellent thermoresponsive extraction performance.