Highly porous acrylonitrile-based submicron particles for UO2(2+) absorption in an immunosensor assay

Our laboratory has previously reported an antibody-based assay for hexavalent uranium (UO(2)(2+)) that could be used on-site to rapidly assess uranium contamination in environmental water samples (Melton, S. J.; et al. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, 43, 6703-6709). To extend the utility of this assay to less-characterized sites of uranium contamination, we required a uranium-specific adsorbent that would rapidly remove the uranium from groundwater samples, while leaving the concentrations of other ions in the groundwater relatively unaltered. This study describes the development of hydrogel particles containing amidoxime groups that can rapidly and selectively facilitate the uptake of uranyl ions. A miniemulsion polymerization technique using SDS micelles was employed for the preparation of the hydrogel as linked submicrometer particles. In polymerization, acrylonitrile was used as the initial monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the crosslinker and 2-hydroxymethacrylate, 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone, acrylic acid, or methacrylic acid were added as co-monomers after the initial seed polymerization of acrylonitrle. The particles were characterized by transmission electron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cryo-SEM. The amidoximated particles were superior to a commercially available resin in their ability to rapidly remove dissolved UO(2)(2+) from spiked groundwater samples.