The objective of this research is to develop polymers which will selectively bind specific metal ions from aqueous solutions containing many ions, and may be reversibly regenerated without creating additional ionic wastes. A potential application of these polymers would be removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous waste streams. The use of macrocytic ligands for the design of such polymers is investigated. Polymer-bound crown ethers, coronands, podands, and cryptands characterized. A series of experimental studies are performed to establish the optimal polymer design. Polymer structural features are characterized using 13C NMR, while NMR relaxational studies provide information about the microenvironment of the polymer-bound ligand. A novel synthetic technique for producing polymer-bound pseudocrown ethers in situ during free radical polymerizations is also investigated. Theoretical analyses including Monte Carlo and molecular simulations are performed to provide insight into the underlying interactions among the macrocytic ligands, the polymer backbone, and the ions.
