Polyallylamine-grafted cellulose gel as high-capacity anion-exchanger

A new cellulose-based anion-exchanger was prepared by grafting polyallylamine onto cellulose. The material was obtained by partial oxidation of a size-exclusion grade cellulose gel by aq. NaIO4, forming dialdehyde cellulose, followed by Schiff base formation with a polyallylamine (PAA, molecular mass 5000) and subsequent reduction for stabilization. Three grades of PAA-cellulose gels, with amino group contents of 0.78, 1.01 and 1.28 mmol/g cellulose, were examined for their ionic interaction with mono- and divalent carboxylic acids at pH 2.5-5.5. While the retention factor for monovalent acids was nearly proportional to the amino group content of the gel, that for divalent acids was remarkably greater for the PAA-cellulose gel than for the conventional diethylaminoethyl (DEAE) cellulose gel bearing more amino groups (1.97 mmol/g cellulose). Such high capacity can be explained by the high local density of amino groups on grafted PAA, in contrast to the random and sparse charge distribution in conventional exchangers.