Thermochemistry of interaction between cellulose modified with 2-aminomethylpyridine and divalent cations

Cellulose, a biopolymer seemingly inert, was chlorinated initially by reaction with thionyl chloride and then after it becomes more reactive, reacted with 2-aminomethylpyridine molecule for increasing its capacity of removal of divalent cations from an aqueous medium. These materials were characterized by means of elemental analysis, ¹³C NMR, and FTIR techniques, which have proved that a successful modification has occurred. The final material (Celamp), after being characterized was submitted to adsorption assays to evaluate its interaction with cations, whose affinity was found to be Cu²⁺ > Co²⁺ > Ni²⁺ > Zn²⁺. The quantitative cation/base center interactions were calorimetrically determined and showed exothermic enthalpies of ?(13.25 ± 0.12), ?(15.11 ± 0.22), ?(17.23 ± 0.15), and ?(14.66 ± 0.27) kJ mol^?1; negative Gibbs energies of ?(16.3 ± 0.7), ?(14.7 ± 0.7), ?(14.4 ± 0.7), and ?(13.3 ± 0.7) kJ mol^?1; and entropies of 10 ± 2, ?1 ± 1, ?10 ± 1, and ?5 ± 1 J mol^?1 K^?1 for the same sequence of cations. These favorable thermodynamic data suggest that the synthesis involving cellulose produces a new useful material for cation removal from the environment.