Synthesis of Polyvinyltetrazole by Combination of Free Radical Polymerization and Click Chemistry for Adsorption of Pb (II) in Aqueous Solution

Polyvinyltetrazole (PVT) is produced from acrylonitrile (AN) monomer by using free-radical polymerization and Click Chemistry methods. The resulting polymer with a broad range of tetrazole group contents was conveniently synthesized through [3+ 2] azide-nitrile cycloaddition reaction of nitrile-containing polymer with sodium azide in DMF. The prepared PVT was characterized by13CNMR, FT-IR and UV-Vis spectroscopies. Elemental analysis indicated that approximately 92% of the cyano groups on the polymer surface were converted to tetrazolyl groups. The PVT exhibited excellent adsorption form et al ions and the maximum adsorption capacity for Pb (II) was 2.39mmol/g which are much higher than corresponding literature results. The adsorption process was described as an ion exchange and chelation interaction mechanisms. The high adsorption rate (<40 min) was seen. The resulting polymer and its metal chelate were characterized by FT-IR, elemental analysis, gravimetry, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), UV-Vis spectroscopy, and atomic absorption techniques (AAS). All these analyses methods confirmed the presence of metal in the polymer-metal complex.