Biomimetic Hydrogels as inspired Mussel filters for water decontamination

A. GALLASTEGUI; L. PORCARELLI; M. L. GOMEZ; D. MECERREYES

Mar del Plata

Simposio; SLAP 2018 ? XVI Simposio latinoamericano de Polímeros ? XIV Congreso Iberoamericano de Polímeros; 2018

INTEMA

Mussel inspired materials have currently drawn great attention for various applications due to the presence of an amino acid containing catechol groups, the ones responsible for their properties able to form multiple interactions1. Covalent and non-covalent interactions (hydrogen bonds or π-π stacking) can be found between catechol groups and organic/inorganic substrates. These amazing properties have opened the door to the design of new (multi)functional platforms based on catechols.In this work, we present the synthesis of hydrogels inspired by marine mussel through the simple and rapid acquisition of a new ionic monomer containing a catechol group in its structure, dopamine methacrylate (DA). For the first time, such monomer was copolymerized with (meth)acrylate monomers through radical polymerization by visible light, a technique that was not employed before for catechol monomers and derivates. Although, it was possible to synthesize hydrogels with concentrations up to 50 mol% of catechol since its ionic property. The successful "green" synthesis of the hydrogels was employed as inspired mussel filters for the removal of pollutants from water resources, contaminants normally discharged by many industries. The evaluation was carried out employing organic and inorganic contaminants, such as ionic organic dyes and heavy metals.Hydrogels were synthesized successfully with 0, 15, 30 and 50% of DA mol, copolymerized with Acrylamide (AAm), 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) and [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl] trimethylammonium chloride (METAC), a cationic monomer. From the swelling results it was observed that the hydrogels containing METAC present the highest swelling capacity, followed by those with AAm and finally by HEA hydrogels, results that were consistent with porous analysis of SEM images. The incorporation of DA in AAm hydrogels increased significantly the swelling capacity (Figure 1) while for METAC is almost invariable and DA diminishes the swelling capacity of HEA hydrogels.Finally, removal of contaminants with organic dyes and heavy metals was carried out in simulated aquifer. Figure 2 shows the removal of safranin and methylene blue employing p(HEA-co-DA30) hydrogels after 8 hours. The final solutions are clear while the hydrogels remain colored.CONCLUSIONHydrogels containing up to DA 50% mol were successfully copolimerized with AAm, HEA and METAC by photopolymerization with visible light. An efficient removal of organic and inorganic contaminants was observed by specific interactions