Separation Techniques

Biography

Biography: Rafael Lucena Rodriguez

Abstract

Polymeric materials are widely employed in (micro) extraction techniques due to several advantages such as their stability and versatility. Polyamides, a specific type of polymers, are obtained by the controlled synthesis between a diacid and a diamine compounds yielding a polymeric chain where amide groups are distributed periodically. The chemical forces that allow the chain stacking can also be used for the extraction of target compounds from samples of different nature. In addition, polyamides can be easily synthesized in the lab using several monomers with different moieties that may increase the potential of these polymers as sorbents since the material can be synthesized to boost the interaction with the target compounds. The introduction of nanoparticles inside the polymeric network has been demonstrated as a good way to improve the extraction capacity of the sorbents as well as their mechanical properties. On the one hand, nanoparticles disturb the normal stacking of the polymer increasing their superficial area which results critically to improve both thermodynamics and kinetics aspects of the extraction. On the other hand, the use of special nanoparticles, like magnetic ones, may provide singular properties to the resulting composite. In this communication, the easy synthesis of polyamides-NPs composites, their main advantages and disadvantages will be described in detail to clearly show the potential of this material. This potential, which is supported by practical application of these composites in fields as different as food analysis or bioanalysis, will be explained with suggestions of further research.