Synthesis, characterization and cyclic voltammetric study of copper(II) and nickel(II) polymer chelates

• Cu(II) and Ni(II) metal chelates of Dx-g-PAMPS3 were synthesized.
• Characterisations by FTIR, SEM, AFM, etc. established metal chelate formation.
• Binding constant of (Dx-g-PAMPS3)-Cu(II) was more than (Dx-g-PAMPS3)-Ni(II).
• Cyclic voltametric study shown increase in current due to metal chelate formation.

Graft copolymers based on dextran (Dx) and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propane sulphonic acid (AMPS) were synthesized by free radical initiated solution polymerization technique using ceric ammonium nitrate as initiator. These graft copolymers were used to prepare Cu(II) and Ni(II) chelates by reactions with Cu(II) and Ni(II) metal ions respectively. Graft copolymer and metal chelates were characterized by elemental analysis, intrinsic viscosity, FT-IR, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). Elemental analysis, intrinsic viscosity and FT-IR studies revealed the incorporation of metal ions to form metal chelates. SEM studies showed the change in morphology due to metal incorporation. From AFM studies it was observed that there was increase in Root mean square (RMS) roughness values in case of metal complexes. Metal chelates were observed to be thermally more stable than graft copolymer from TGA. UV–vis spectroscopy study revealed increase in absorbance values and cyclic voltammetric (CV) studies showed more than tenfold increase in redox current due to formation of Cu(II) and Ni(II) metal chelates. The binding constants of each complex determined by using UV–visible spectroscopy revealed that Cu(II) has more binding ability than Ni(II).