NSF Award
8860819
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is in the general area of analytical and surface chemistry and in the subfield of trace analysis. The thrust of this experimental effort is the rational design, synthesis, and characterization of macrocyclic molecules for use as stationary phases in concentrator columns with which trace level concentrations of cations and anions of interest can be monitored. Macrocyclic molecules having high affinities for association with cations of significant value or concern will be synthesized and attached to silica gel. Once attached, the binding constants for a broad range of test cations will be determined. Also, the association of anions of interest with cations bound in these macrocycles will be characterized. These systems will be evaluated using potable water samples and various acid matrices. There is a need for a device to continuously monitor cations and anions in the ppb range in the presence of other more concentrated matrix species. This need exists in relation to species that are toxic, valuable, or otherwise of interest. Such a device is needed in municipal water treatment plants, industrial plants, and other places where these species should be monitored with high accuracy and in real time. Macrocycles interact strongly and highly selectively with many species or groups of species of such interest. The innovation of this research lies in the ability to attach these macrocycles and other ligands in a permanent bond to silica gel while maintaining their solution complexing abilities. Such materials can then be incorporated in a concentrator column for use in a continuous analytical procedure. The feasibility of the material synthesis and concentration procedure will be shown in Phase I. In a subsequent Phase II activity, concentrator columns containing these materials will be incorporated into an automated analysis system using any one of a number of conventional analytical instruments allowing for accurate, real time analysis of a wide range of specific cations and anions in typical potable water and industrial process and waste streams at the ppb level.
