Chemical modifications of poly(vinyl chloride) to poly(vinyl azide) and “clicked” triazole bearing groups for application in metal cation extraction

Chemical modification of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) by the replacement of chlorine atom presents a considerable interest in this work. In the first phase, PVC was partially azided with a sodium azide. Click-chemistry based on Copper (I)-catalyzed Huisgen's reaction (CuAAC) was then used to form polymer-grafted 1,4-triazoles using some synthesized substituted alkynes. In the second phase, the new synthesized polymers were used in extraction studies of heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Ni and Pb). The obtained polymer-supported triazoles were characterized by infrared spectroscopy and thermal analysis (DSC). Evaluation of metallic cation extraction was done by atomic absorption of the remaining solutions. Three polymers efficiently removed Ni Cu and Pb with extraction yields between 50 and 90%. Two of the polymers studied had a high selectivity of extraction for Cadmium with a good efficiency (around 80%).