Synthesis of crosslinked polyacrylonitrile via atom transfer radical polymerization with activators regenerated by electron transfer and use of the resin in mercury removal after modification.

Crosslinked polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was synthesized with divinylbenzene as the crosslinker with an iron(III)-mediated atom transfer radical polymerization method with activators regenerated by electron transfer. The polymerization exhibited first-order kinetics with respect to the polymerization time. Hydroxylamine hydrochloride (NH₂OH·HCl) was used to modify the cyano groups of the crosslinked PAN to obtain amidoxime (AO) groups. The AO-crosslinked PAN was used to remove Hg(II). The optimum pH, adsorption kinetics, and adsorption isotherms were investigated. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]