Selective polymer sorbents on the basis of copolymers of dialkyl esters of vinylphosphonic acid and acrylic acid

Abstract Complex-forming polymeric sorbents have been obtained by copolymerization of dialkyl esters of vinylphosphonic acid with acrylic acid and subsequent crosslinking of the formed copolymers with N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide. The sorbents are able to take up copper, cobalt and nickel ions from neutral and weakly acidic solutions while not sorbing the ions of alkaline and alkaline earth metals to any significant extent. It was shown that by changing the length and branching of the alkyl radicals of the esters and the solvent in which the copolymerization was carried out, it was possible to vary the sequence of the monomers in macromolecular chains and to regulate the selectivity of the sorbents.