Preparation and metal binding behavior of poly(4-vinylbenzyl 2-hydroxyethyl) sulfoxide and sulfone

In order to explore the reuse properties of oxidized chelating resin containing sulfur after adsorption, two kinds of novel chelating resins, poly[4-vinylbenzyl-(2-hydroxyethyl)] sulfoxide (PVBSO) and poly[4-vinylbenzyl-(2-hydroxyethyl)] sulfone (PVBSO2), were synthesized using poly[4-vinylbenzyl-(2-hydroxyethyl)] sulfide (PVBS) as material. Their structures were confirmed by FTIR and XPS. The adsorption properties and mechanism for metal ions such as Au3+, Pt4+, Pd2+, Hg2+, Cu2+, Ni2+, Fe3+, Pb2+, Cd2+, and Zn2+ were investigated. Experimental results showed that PVBSO had good adsorption and selective properties for Au3+, Pd2+ and Cu2+ when the coexisting ion was Pt4+, Ni2+, Pb2+ or Cd2+. In the aqueous system containing Cu2+ and Pb2+ or Cu2+ and Cd2+, PVBSO2 only adsorbed Cu2+. The selective coefficients of PVBSO and PVBSO2 were αAu/Pt = 4.8, αAu/Pd = 11.8, αPd/Pt = 10.9, αCu/Ni = 2.5, αCu/Cd = 41.2, αCu/Pb = ∞, αCu/Ni = 3.0, αCu/Cd = ∞, αCu/Pb = ∞, respectively.