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Synergistic Adsorption Of Heavy Metal Ions And Organic Pollutants By Supramolecular Polysaccharide Composite Materials From Cellulose, Chitosan And Crown Ether, Tamutsiwa M. Mututuvari, Chieu D. Tran

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

We have developed a simple one-step method to synthesize novel supramolecular polysaccharide composites from cellulose (CEL), chitosan (CS) and benzo-15-crown 5 (B15C5). Butylmethylimidazolium chloride [BMIm⁺Cl⁻], an ionic liquid (IL), was used as a sole solvent for dissolution and preparation of the composites. Since majority of [BMIm⁺Cl⁻] used was recovered for reuse, the method is recyclable. The [CEL/CS + B15C5] composites obtained retain properties of their components, namely superior mechanical strength (from CEL), excellent adsorption capability for heavy metal ions and organic pollutants (from B15C5 and CS). More importantly, the [CEL/CS + B15C5] …