Quaternary Ammonium-Containing Polyelectrolyte Brush Particles for Removal of Perrhenate Anion From Water: Effect of N-Substituents.

Radioactive pertechnetate (TcO ) from the nuclear fuel cycle presents a severe risk to the environment due to its large solubility in water and non-complexing nature. By utilizing the chaotropic properties of TcO and its nonradioactive surrogate perrhenate (ReO ) and the principle of chaotropic interactions, a series of quaternary ammonium-containing polyelectrolyte brush-grafted silica particles are designed and applied to remove ReO from water. These cationic hairy particles (HPs) are synthesized by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization of 2-(N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate and subsequent quaternization with various halogen compounds.