The lack of clean and affordable drinking water is a major global issue affecting three-fifths of the world’s population due to the accumulation of chemicals in water supplies. Specifically, removing organic micropollutants originating from pesticides, detergents, plastics (e.g. bisphenol A and bisphenol S) and pharmaceuticals (such as contraceptives and β-blockers) from our water supply is becoming increasingly important, as many of these pollutants are endocrine disruptors, carcinogens and toxins, and thus can have a negative impact on human health, plants and wildlife. Currently, there are commercially available filters such as Brita® that use activated carbon to help remove organic micropollutants from water. Yet activated carbon has disadvantages including relatively low efficiency at removing certain micropollutants and a lack of recyclability. However, Alsbaiee et. al. (<i>Nature, </i><b>2016</b>, 529, 190) recently synthesized a material composed of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) joined with rigid tetrafluorophthalonitrile (TFP) linkers via base-promoted nucleophilic aromatic substitution (NAS) reactions, generating a porous-β-cyclodextrin polymer (P-CDP) capable of rapidly and thoroughly removing organic micropollutants from water. β-CD is a cup-shaped macrocycle with a hydrophobic interior, and is already used in air fresheners (e.g. Febreze®) as the active ingredient to capture organic micropollutants from the air. The porous polymer has multiple advantages, such as outperforming all other materials in its ability to absorb common aqueous organic micropollutants. Also, the polymer can be easily regenerated and used repeatedly without loss in performance. The efficiency, affordability and recyclability of this new material represents a promising new alternative for water purification. It also represents an opportunity to create new laboratory activities for undergraduate students, designed to illustrate important chemical principles in a contemporary and relevant context, the removal of organic micropollutants from aqueous solutions. Molecules that simulate organic micropollutants such as phenolphthalein, cochineal extract and coomassie were used in the development of an undergraduate teaching lab designed to illustrate core concepts such as intermolecular forces, Beer’s Law, and NAS reactions. The lab would also serve as a platform for the use analytical tools such as IR and UV/Vis Spectroscopy for characterizing materials and concentration methods, respectively.

Removal of organic micropollutants in water with a microporous polymer as a platform for an undergraduate teaching lab

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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