Abstract

The thermal properties of two water-soluble polymers; poly(N-maleyl glycine) and poly(N-maleyl glycine-co-acrylic acid) as well as their metal complexes with Co(II), Zn(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Fe(III), Cd(II), Pb(II), and Hg(II) ions were investigated. The copolymer-metal ion complexes were obtained in aqueous phase by using the Liquid Phase Polymer-Based Retention (LPR) technique in conjunction with membrane filtration. The water-soluble P(MG) and P(MG-co-AA) are shown to be useful for the retention of different metal ions and their separation from elements not bound to the polymeric reagent. The thermal stability of the copolymer-metal ion complexes under nitrogen atmosphere at 20-500°C was also investigated. The complexes with different transition were characterized with FT-IR and thermogravimetry (TGA). From the TGA data the thermal decomposition temperature (TDT) and kinetic parameters such as activation energy (Ea) and reaction order (n) were determined.