Chlorophenol compounds have been extensively used in housing, apparel, and pharmaceutical fields, but have also been classfied as pollutants in water environment. These toxic chlorophenols in water were conventionally removed by biological oxidation, thermal destruction, chemical treatment and activated carbon absorption etc., however, their effectiveness was low and usually required considerable energy. To overcome this, an amphiphilic star block copolymer photo-catalyst consisting of hydrophilic exterior and hydrophobic interior with a photoactive core was synthesized by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization to examine removals of the chlorophenols in water. The concept is that the water solubilized star block copolymer efficiently concentrates the hydrophobic chlorophenol into its hydrophobic interior, where active oxygen generated by the photo catalyst in the core under light irradiation decomposed the chlorophenol.

Synthesis of star polymer catalyst for degradation of chloro compounds

244th National Meeting (2012)

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