Supramolecular Ion-Exchange Resins Based on Calixarene Derivatives for Pollutant Removal from Aquatic Environmental Samples

Abstract

Water pollutants, i.e., heavy metal ions, pesticides, dyes, and pigments, are contaminating our aquatic environment and generating serious health damage for the human body. Adsorption using ion-exchange resin materials is one of the versatile techniques for water treatment due to its simple and low-cost process. However, when the separation and pre-concentration of the water pollutants only rely on the ion-exchange mechanism, selective removal of water pollutants cannot be easily achieved. In contrast, a supramolecular organic compound named calixarene offers a promising technology for selective ion and molecular discrimination due to strict host-guest interactions. We reviewed the up-to-date research of supramolecular ionexchange resins based on calixarene derivatives for pollutant removal from aquatic environmental samples. There are three techniques to prepare the supramolecular ion-exchange resins based on calixarene derivatives: (1) impregnation of calixarene on the commercially available resins, (2) polymerization of calixarene, and (3) crosslink-reaction of the calixarene derivatives. The description, advantages, and disadvantages of each technique are discussed. By using these techniques, hundreds of ion-exchange resin materials have been successfully prepared and they showed a remarkable capability and selectivity for heavy metal ions, pesticides, dyes, and pigments removal.