While phosphate is a nutrient necessary for both plant and animal life, over fertilization and fecal waste runoff can cause increases in inorganic phosphate concentration in neighboring water reservoirs. This increased concentration of inorganic phosphate can lead to a variety of environmental problems including eutrophication (excess growth of plants and algae). To alleviate these environmental concerns, methods for the selective removal of inorganic phosphate in the presence of other naturally occurring anions are needed. To address this problem, our laboratories have developed polymer flocculants that can be used to remove inorganic phosphate from simulated wastewater. This poster will focus on our recent binding studies (UV-vis, NMR, and ITC) between anions (chloride, phosphate, and sulfate) and a thiourea derived trapping group. These binding studies indicate that our thiourea trapping group has a higher binding affinity compared to other natural occurring anions (sulfate and chloride) supporting our results from the wastewater studies.

Investigating the specificity of thiourea host molecules for inorganic phosphate

2019 Spring National Meeting

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