Soft Elastomers Based on the Epoxy-Amine Chemistry and Their Use for the Design of Adsorbent Amphiphilic Magnetic Nanocomposites

ARCINIEGAS VACA, MAGDA LORENA; GONZALEZ, JIMENA S.; HOPPE, CRISTINA E.

Macromol

MDPI

Año: 2022 vol. 2 p. 426 - 439

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based soft elastomers,bearing tertiary amine and hydroxyl groups, weresynthesized in bulk from the epoxy–amine reaction between poly(ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether(PEGDE) and a poly(etherdiamine), Jeffamine ED600. High gel fractions (≥0.95) and low glasstransition temperatures (Tg ≈−50 ◦C) were attained aftercomplete curing of the systems in bulk. The amphiphilicity of the networkallowed the swelling of the materials in both aqueous solutions and a variety oforganic solvents. Magnetic nanocomposites were synthesized by in situcoprecipitation of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) in the elastomeric matrix. Theobtained materialswere processed by cryogenic milling to obtain powders that were tested aspotential magneticadsorbents and that showed a fast and strong response to the action of apermanent magnet.These materials showed removal rates of at least 50% in 10 min when usedin the adsorption of Cu+2 ions from anaqueous solution, making them interesting candidates for the design ofmagnetically separablemetal ion adsorbents.