Comparison of rigid divinylbenzene with flexible 1,7‐octadiene crosslinks in acrylic acid resins—effects on kinetics of swelling and loading of heavy metal ions from water

Acrylic acid–1,7‐octadiene resin was synthesized in beaded form by a two‐step process: suspension polymerization of ethylacrylate and 1,7‐octadiene monomers, followed by hydrolysis using either 98% H 2 SO 4 or 10 M NaOH. Acrylic acid–divinylbenzene resins were also synthesized by the same process for the purpose of comparing a rigid divinylbenzene with a flexible 1,7‐octadiene crosslinkage in the acrylic acid resins. Swelling of the resins in distilled water shows that replacing divinylbenzenes with 1,7‐octadiene makes the resin achieve greater swelling in a significantly shorter time. 1,7‐Octadiene also allowed for an increase in crosslinkage to 20% compared to 4% in the case of divinylbenzene, without compromising the loading rates of toxic heavy metal ions like Pb 2+ , Cu 2+ , and Cr 3+ from water samples. The acrylic acid–1,7‐octadine resin was found useful for removal of the toxic heavy metal ions from wastewater samples. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131 , 41038.