Mercury is a pervasive environmental contaminant and there is a significant need for reagents and technologies capable of removing the element from water through either precipitation or filtration. N,N'-bis(2-mercaptoethyl)isophthalamide) abbreviated, BDTH2, has emerged as the preeminent reagent for the complete precipitation of mercury and other heavy metals from water. Aqueous heavy metal concentrations in the ppm to ppb range can be reduced, by complete precipitation of the BDT-metal compound, to below instrumental detection limits (Water Res. 42 (2008) 2025). The compound is now being marketed as B9 (�benign�) by Merloc, LLC (Inquiries@MerlocLLC.com).  It would be ideal to have a solid-supported reagent having the metal capture ability of BDTH2. To achieve this the new dithiol compound, 2,2'-[benzene-1,3-diylbis(carbonylimino)]bis(3-sulfanylpropanoic acid) (abbreviated BCSH2) was synthesized. It contains pendant carboxylate groups that were used to covalently attach the compound to silica beads. The new solid-supported reagent, abbreviated Si-BCSH2, completely removes Hg(II) from water. XPS analysis confirmed the presence of covalent Hg-S bonding in the resulting SiBCS-Hg material. Details on the synthesis, characterization, mercury-capture ability, leaching profile, and Hg uptake optimization, of the new material will be presented.

Solid-supported thiols for aqueous mercury removal

239th National Meeting (2010)

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