title: Optically active microspheres constructed by helical substituted polyacetylene and used for adsorption of organic compounds in aqueous systems.
abstract: This article reports optically active microspheres consisting of chiral helical substituted polyacetylene and β-cyclodextrin-derivative (β-CD-A). The microspheres showed remarkable adsorption toward various organic compounds in water. To prepare the microspheres, an acetylenic-derived helical macro-monomer was synthesized and then underwent aqueous suspension copolymerization with octadecyl acrylate and butyl acrylate by using azobis(isobutyronitrile) as initiator and β-CD-A simultaneously as comonomer and cross-linking agent. The helical macro-monomer chains enabled the microspheres to exhibit desirable enantio-differentiating adsorption capacity toward chiral compounds respectively dissolved in organic solvent, dispersed in water, and dissolved in water. The saturated absorbency toward (R)-(+)- and (S)-(-)-1-phenylethylamine was 29 and 12 mg · g(-1), respectively. The microspheres also showed large oil absorbency (e.g., 22 g · g(-1) CCl4) and a large adsorption toward methyl red (as a model for organic dyes) dispersed in water. The presence of β-CD-A moieties improved the adsorption performance of the microspheres. The present optically active microspheres open a new approach for preparing adsorbents particularly chiral adsorbents with potentials for wastewater treatment.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering and College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology , Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Junya
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Ci
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deng
keywords: adsorbent; chiral compound; helical polymer; microsphere