Synthesis of polyamidoxime chelating ligand from polymer‐grafted corn‐cob cellulose for metal extraction

A conventional free‐radical initiating process was used to prepare graft copolymers from acrylonitrile (AN) with corn‐cob cellulose with ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as an initiator. The optimum grafting was achieved with corn‐cob cellulose (anhydroglucose unit, AGU), mineral acid (H₂SO₄), CAN, and AN at concentrations of 0.133, 0.081, 0.0145, and 1.056 mol/L, respectively. Furthermore, the nitrile functional groups of the grafted copolymers were converted to amidoxime ligands with hydroxylamine under basic conditions of pH 11 with 4 h of stirring at 70°C. The purified acrylic polymer‐grafted cellulose and polyamidoxime ligand were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy analysis. The ligand showed an excellent copper binding capacity (4.14 mmol/g) with a faster rate of adsorption (average exchange rate = 7 min), and it showed a good adsorption capacity for other metal ions as well. The metal‐ion adsorption capacities of the ligand were pH‐dependent in the following order: Cu²⁺ > Co²⁺ > Mn²⁺ > Cr³⁺ > Fe³⁺ > Zn²⁺ > Ni²⁺. The metal‐ion removal efficiency was very high; up to 99% was removed from the aqueous media at a low concentration. These new polymeric chelating ligands could be used to remove aforementioned toxic metal ions from industrial wastewater. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40833.