The design and synthesis of high efficiency adsorption materials for 1,3-propanediol: physical and chemical structure regulation

In this study, a series of polystyrene-divinylbenzene resins with precise physical structure regulation and chemical modification were successfully synthesized. The regulation of Friedel–Crafts reaction conditions resulted in several physical resins with various BET surface areas and pore structures, while the adsorption of 1,3-propanediol revealed that the molecular size and other physical properties exhibited a moderate contribution to the adsorption of hydrophilic compounds. The adsorption processes between 1,3-propanediol and nitrogen, oxygen and boron functional group modified resins were further explored, and boronic acid modified resins named PS-3NB and PS-SBT exhibited higher adsorption capacities than commercial resin CHA-111. The adsorption capacity of PS-3NB and PS-SBT reached 17.54 mg g−1 and 17.23 mg g−1, respectively, which were 37% and 35% higher than that of commercial resin CHA-111. Furthermore, the adsorption mechanism demonstrated that the content of boronic acid, solution pH and adsorbate hydrophobicity were the primary adsorption driving forces. Herein, we provided a method to modify polystyrene-divinylbenzene materials with boronic acid to selectively adsorb hydrophilic polyols via the specific affinity between boronic acid and diol molecule.