Heavy metal contaminants in water are known to disrupt ecological systems and cause detrimental biophysical and physiological effects in living systems. Prominent metallic environmental contaminants include lead, cadmium, and zinc. Removing heavy metal contaminants is essential to enhance water quality and reduce heavy metal toxicity. Chelating polymers that contain functional groups such as carboxyls and amines, offer an inexpensive and efficient way to remove metals from solution. The purpose of our study is to develop a protocol to quantify metal binding efficiency of various polymers via Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). Alginate and Chitosan, two bio-derived polymers with known chelating properties, were employed to develop a methodology for quantifying metal extraction. To analyze the metal chelating properties, the polymers were combined with solutions of varying concentrations of metal contaminants (Pb, Cd, Zn) and the metal concentration of the remaining solution was quantified by AAS. A second methodology was evaluated where the polymer was placed in a semi permeable membrane which permits the metal ions to pass into the membrane and absorb to the polymer. Comparison of the two methods allows for the development of a protocol that efficiently monitors metal contaminants in water and ecological systems. The ultimate goal is to utilize this protocol to study metal binding properties of novel polymers synthesized in our research lab.

Investigating polymer-metal chelation via atomic absorption spectroscopy

ACS Spring 2022

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