Modification of amino-bis-(cis-propan 2,3 diol) functions onto crosslinked poly (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate-methyl methacrylate-ethyleneglycole dimethacrylate) for removal of boron from water

A beaded polymer with a poly (glycidyl methacrylate) surface shell was prepared in two steps, starting from (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate-methyl methacrylate (MMA)-ethylene glycole dimethacrylate (EGDMA)) terpolymer beads by using suspension polymerization method and grafting using a concentrated aqueous glycidyl methacrylate solution with a CuBr–Bipyridine complex (1:3). The resulting polymer resin with 300 wt% grafted (glycidyl methacrylate) was reacted with excess of diallylamine, yielding corresponding polymers with diallylamino functions. Cis-dihydroxylation of the allyl groups was performed. The resulting polymeric sorbent has been demonstrated to be an efficient boron-specific sorbent, able to remove boron from solutions at ppm levels.