Thiosemicarbazone and Semicarbazone Chelating Resins and Their Potential Use in Environmental Applications

Abstract

An effective means for removing harmful metals from the environment has been studied through the use of thiosemicarbazone (TSC) and semicarbazone (SC) chelating resins. The ability to chelate radioactive tracer metals out of aqueous solutions at environmental pH values was observed with these resins. Resin loading data was studied to determine the amount of exchange sites occupied by the ligands. The comparative ability of three different structural backbones on the ligand structures to adsorb radioactive tracer metals was determined by a batch technique at various pH values. Dry-weight distribution, D_w, values were calculated for the chelating resins.

Keywords:

• chelating resins
• metal remediation
• semicarbazone
• thiosemicarbazone

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to thank the Environmental Sciences doctoral program and the Student Research Development Grant Committee at TTU for funding for this project, as well as Megan Monteen for the ligand synthesis and Phillip Burr at the TTU Water Center for help with the IC work.

Notes

Reported D_w values have an uncertainty of ±5%.

*Indicates no detectable uptake of the metal.

**Indicates the value was greater than the maximum D_w value.