Porous organic polymer bifunctionalized with triazine and thiophene groups as a novel adsorbent for removing Cu (II)

• A bifunctionalized TSP-NS was achieved through one-step Friedel-Crafts reaction.
• The bifunctionalized TSP-NS was found to be highly effective in removing Cu (II).
• The N and S heteroatoms on TSP-NS can easily form coordination complexes with Cu (II).
• The used TSP-NS can be regenerated effectively and recycled at least five times.

A triazine and thiophene bifunctionalized task-specific porous organic polymer with N and S atoms (TSP-NS) was synthesized from a simple one-step Friedel-Crafts reaction. The resulting novel porous polymer was determined to be highly effective in removing Cu (II) from aqueous solution. The maximum adsorption capacity, qmax, evaluated from the Langmuir model was 98.33 mg g−1. Moreover, the combination of experimental FTIR results and the theoretical quantum calculation demonstrated that the N and S heteroatoms of the bifunctionalized TSP-NS could easily form coordination complexes with Cu (II), which were responsible for efficient adsorption. The generated TSP-NS could be regenerated effectively and recycled at least five times without significant loss of adsorption capacity. Therefore, the convenience and low cost of synthesis, as well as the excellent adsorption capacity and reusability, made bifunctionalized polymer TSP-NS an attractive adsorbent for removing toxic metal ions from aqueous solution.

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