Preparation of chlorocholine chloride/urea deep eutectic solvent-modified silica and an examination of the ion exchange properties of modified silica as a Lewis adduct

Chlorocholine chloride/urea (ClChCl–urea), a deep eutectic solvent (DES), was applied successfully to the modification of silica. The resulting modified silica was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis, and elemental analysis. Based on the ClChCl–urea modification of silica, the ClChCl–urea-modified silica is a Lewis adduct with ion exchange properties, and ferulic acid was adsorbed on the ClChCl–urea-modified silica via an ion exchange process. The adsorbed percentage of ferulic acid increased with the increasing amount of modified silica, and a high adsorbed percentage of 89 % could be obtained by the ion exchange process. The Freundlich isotherm used to describe the adsorption of ferulic acid on the modified silica by ion exchange showed a good correlation (R ²?=?0.93). Based on the characterization of the structure and the analysis of the ion exchange property of the ClChCl–urea-modified silica, the modified silica as a potential medium can be applied in some analytical technologies such as solid phase extraction, chromatography, and so on.