Heavy metals are harmful contaminants as they create health problems in humans, cause damage to other living things, and persist over time. One of the more economical and environmentally friendly methods of heavy metal removal from soil is phytoremediation, a process by which plants take up the metals and store them in their leaves. In a process called ecocatalysis, the contaminated leaves are harvested, the heavy metals are removed from the plant matter, and the extracted metals are used to produce catalysts for organic reactions. These catalysts have shown promise as they can facilitate greater yields than traditional catalysts, are more easily recycled, and aid in the removal of dangerous contamination from the environment. In our work, four different plant species were selected and grown in metal-contaminated soil, in greenhouse conditions. The heavy metals chosen were based on previous phytoremediation work. Other contaminated plants were acquired from a site of acid mine drainage. The plant materials were converted into ecocatalysts through acid digestion at high temperatures. Four organic control reactions were optimized: the reduction of styrene with nickel chloride, a Lucas reaction with zinc chloride, a THP protection reaction with copper chloride, and the synthesis of dihydropyridine with cadmium chloride. The use of these traditional metal catalysts will be compared to the corresponding ecocatalysts, in order to assess the viability of this method for closing the loop in this environmental clean-up strategy.<br/>

Ecocatalysis using heavy metals recovered from phytoremediation

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.