Sulfonamide based polymeric sorbents for selective mercury extraction

Abstract

Abstract New polymeric resin with sulfonamide pendant functions have been prepared for the selective extraction of mercuric ions. This polystyrene sulfonamide resin with a 3.5 mmol/g total nitrogen content is able to selectively sorb mercury from aqueous solutions. The mercury sorption capacity of the resins are around 1.71 mmol/g for acetyl sulfonamide resin and 2.9 mmol/g for methanesulfonyl sulfonamide resin under non-buffered conditions. The experiments performed under identical conditions with some metal ions reveal that Cd(II), Pb(II), Zn(II) and Fe(III) ions are also extractable in low quantity (0.05–0.1 mmol/g). The mercury-loaded polymers (acetyl sulfonamide and methanesulfonyl sulfonamide) may be quantitatively regenerated with hot acetic acid and 4 M HNO3.