1. Introduction
Several papers were devoted in the last thirty years to two-dimensional network supramolecular structures due the important applications in the domain of molecular recognition and surface chemistry [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16]. When supported on solid surfaces, these heterocyclic compounds, such as melamine, cyanuric acid, and uracil and its derivatives, are likely to constitute supramolecular network structures capable of selective adsorbing various molecules, including enantiomers [
10].
In the case of formed supramolecular structures on the surface of inert supports and porous polymer sorbents, it was showed that the properties of resulting adsorbents depend on the polarity of the surface and porosity of the initial adsorbents [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16]. The effect of the amount of the supported modifier on the properties of the obtained adsorbents was studied by Sukhareva et al. [
3] and Guskov et al. [
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16] using the inverse gas chromatography technique. They studied the specific interactions between the various polymer adsorbents with some model organic solvents as well as the London dispersive energy of the various solid surfaces using Dorris-Gray method [
17]. Whereas, it was proved in other works that the classic chromatographic method such as Schultz et al [
18] and Dorris-Gray methods cannot be used for an accurate evaluation of the London dispersive surface energy of solid materials, because these methods were based on the hypothesis constant surface area organic solvents. In several studies [
19,
20,
21,
22,
23], an important effect of the temperature on the surface area of organic molecules was highlighted and more accurate values of the London dispersive and polar components of the surface energy, and the Lewis acid-base properties of various solid substrates were obtained using the Hamieh thermal model. Furthermore, the polar and dispersive interactions between the organic solvents and several solid surfaces were determined by applying the new method [
24,
25] using the London interaction equation [
26].
In this paper, we were interested in the determination of the surface thermodynamic properties of some porous polymers such as styrene–divinylbenzene copolymer modified by supramolecular structure of melamine using inverse gas chromatography (IGC) at infinite dilution [
27,
28,
29,
30,
31,
32,
33,
34,
35,
36,
37,
38,
39,
40] and our new methodology consisting in the correction of the London dispersive surface energy and the correct determination of polar free energy of adsorption of some polar organic probes as well as the Lewis’s acid-base parameters of the modified porous polymer.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Adsorbent and Materials
A porous polymer such as styrene–divinylbenzene copolymer (Dowex L-285, from Dow Chemical, Midland, USA), was used as the initial adsorbent for modification. Its specific surface area was 800 m2/g, with particle sizes of 250–500 μm. The chosen surface modifier was the melamine (from Vecton, St. Petersburg, Russia, 97%, CAS108-78-1), with percentage mass from 1% to 4% impregnated into the adsorbent surface by evaporation of aqueous solutions at 60 °C. The temperature choice was necessary to uniformly impregnate the modifier on the surface. Then the resulting sample was washed with high purity water to pH 7. The chemically pure organic solvents such as n-Hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, benzene, cyclohexane, toluene, ethanol, n-propanol, n-butanol, i-propanol, i-butanol, n-pentanol, i-pentanol, dichloromethane, and ethyl acetate (Chimreactivsnab, Russia) were used as the probes.
2.2. Inverse Gas Chromatography
The experimental determination of the retention time of organic molecules adsorbed on Dowex L-285 was carried out using inverse gas chromatography at infinite dilution with the help of a Chromos GC-1000 chromatograph (from Chromos, Russia) equipped with a flame ionization detector (FID). The solid particles were packed into stainless steel columns of 30 cm length and 3 mm internal diameter. The temperature of the column was 200°C and those of the injector and detector were 280°C. The flow rate of the nitrogen carrier gas was 30 mL/min. The mass of the sorbent packed into the column was equal to 1 g. All chromatographic columns were conditioned overnight at 200°C to remove any residual impurities. The probes in vapor phase were injected with a microsyringes at different temperatures to realize the infinite dilution and to satisfy the Henry’s law. The experiments were repeated three times and the error in the value of the retention volume did not exceed 2%.
2.3. Thermodynamic Methods
2.3.1. Dispersive and Polar Energies, and Lewis’s Acid-Base Parameters
The chromatographic measurements led to the determination of the net retention volume
of the different probes adsorbed on the solid surfaces. This allowed determining the values of the free energy of adsorption
of the adsorbed organic molecules as a function of temperature using the following equation:
Where is the absolute temperature, the perfect constant gas and a constant depending on the temperature and the interaction solvents-sorbent.
In the case of non-polar probes such as n-alkanes,
is equivalent to the London dispersive energy
of adsorption for all temperatures
When polar molecules are adsorbed on solid materials,
is written as follows:
where
is the free polar energy of the polar solvents.
To separate the two dispersive and polar contributions of the free energy of adsorption, one applied the new methodology recently published [
24,
25] that used the London dispersion interaction energy (Eq. 4)
Where is the Avogadro number, the dielectric constant of vacuum, and the respective deformation polarizabilities of the solid material denoted by S and the organic molecule denoted by X, separated by a distance , and and their corresponding ionization energies.
Previous equations led to Eq. 5:
The new chosen chromatographic interaction parameter
was given by:
For non-polar molecules such as n-alkanes, the representation of
of these molecules is given by:
where
is the slope of the non-polar straight line.
Using the distance between the straight line of n-alkanes and the representative point of a polar molecule, it was possible to determine the free polar energy
of the polar molecule, at any temperature:
The polar enthalpy
and entropy
of polar probes adsorbed on porous polymers can be deduced from relation 9 if the linearity of
is assured.
The Lewis’s acid-base properties of the solid substrates characterized by its enthalpic (
KA,
KD) and entropic (
,
) acid-base constants are obtained:
where
and
are, respectively, the corrected electron donor and acceptor numbers of the polar molecule [
41,
42].
2.3.1. London Dispersive Surface Energy, and Lewis’s Acid-Base Surface Energies
The London dispersive surface energy
of the different sorbents was determined using the Fowkes relation [
43] and applying the Hamieh thermal model that gave the surface area
of organic molecules as a function of the temperature [
19,
20,
21,
22,
23]:
where
is a constant depending only on the temperature and the solid material.
The total surface energy of material is then given by
where
represents the total polar (or acid-base) contribution of the surface energy.
Using Van Oss et al.’s method [
44], it was possible to determine
of the different polymers. This method consists in the determination of the Lewis acid
and base
surface energies of the solid particles. By choosing two monopolar solvents such as ethyl acetate (
B) and dichloromethane (
A), characterized by the following parameters:
and using the expression of polar free energy
of the polar molecules, given by relation 15:
the Lewis acid and base surface energies of the solid surfaces were deduced from Eqs. 16:
The polar (or acid-base) surface energy
and the total surface energy
of different materials were then obtained using Eqs. 16:
4. Conclusions
The surface thermodynamic properties of styrene–divinylbenzene copolymer (Dowex L-285) modified by a supramolecular structure of melamine at different percentages were characterized using the inverse gas chromatography at infinite dilution. The new methodology based on the Hamieh thermal model was used for accurate determination of the London dispersive surface energy of the different materials as a function of the temperature and the melamine percentage. A linear decrease of the London dispersive surface energy of materials was noticed when the temperature increased, with the highest value obtained for the copolymer Dowex L-285. The results showed an important difference in the behavior of different materials when the melamine percentage varied. This study highlighted a linear correlation between the thermal conductivity of the styrene–divinylbenzene copolymer and its London dispersive surface energy, confirming similar relations previously obtained with graphene and carbon materials.
The application of our new methodology using the London dispersion interaction on the styrene–divinylbenzene copolymer modified by melamine led to the determination of the polar free energy, enthalpy, and entropy of adsorption of polar solvents on the various solid surfaces as well the Lewis’s acid-base constants. It was proved that all used materials exhibited basic behavior largely higher than their acid behavior and the basic character increased with the melamine percentage in good agreement with the increase of nitrogen atom number at the surface of solid materials. The determination of the various components of polar acid and base surface energies of the different materials led to conclude that the highest polar surface energy values were obtained with the Lewis base surface energy for all materials, while the lowest values were obtained with the Lewis acid surface energy, confirming the highest basic character of Dowex L-285 at different melamine percentages. It was also showed that the maximum values of the Lewis base surface energy and the polar acid-base surface energy were obtained when using Dowex L-285 modified by 2% of melamine which showed the highest separation distance between surface materials and organic solvents.
Author Contributions
“Conceptualization, T.H. and V.G.; methodology, T.H.; software, T.H.; validation, T.H. and V.G.; formal analysis, T.H. and V.G.; investigation, T.H. and V.G.; resources, V.G.; data curation, V.G.; writing—original draft preparation, T.H.; writing—review and editing, T.H.; visualization, T.H. and V.G.; project administration, T.H. and V.G.; funding acquisition, V.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.”
Figure 1.
Effect of the percentage of melamine on the values of of different adsorbed organic solvents at various temperatures: T = 453.15K (a), T = 463.15K (b), T = 473.15K (c), and variations of (--) of n-alkanes adsorbed on solid surfaces as a function of temperature (d).
Figure 1.
Effect of the percentage of melamine on the values of of different adsorbed organic solvents at various temperatures: T = 453.15K (a), T = 463.15K (b), T = 473.15K (c), and variations of (--) of n-alkanes adsorbed on solid surfaces as a function of temperature (d).
Figure 2.
Variations of the London dispersive surface energy of materials as a function of the temperature (a) and the percentage of melamine (b).
Figure 2.
Variations of the London dispersive surface energy of materials as a function of the temperature (a) and the percentage of melamine (b).
Figure 3.
Evolution of the free polar energy of the various polar organic probes adsorbed on the different solid materials as a function of temperature for different melamine percentages. (a): dichloromethane, (b): cyclohexane, (c): benzene, (d): toluene, (e): ethyl acetate, (f): ethanol, (g): n-propanol, (h): i-propanol, (i): n-butanol, and (j): i-butanol.
Figure 3.
Evolution of the free polar energy of the various polar organic probes adsorbed on the different solid materials as a function of temperature for different melamine percentages. (a): dichloromethane, (b): cyclohexane, (c): benzene, (d): toluene, (e): ethyl acetate, (f): ethanol, (g): n-propanol, (h): i-propanol, (i): n-butanol, and (j): i-butanol.
Figure 4.
Variations of the free polar energy of polar organic probes adsorbed on the different solid materials as a function of melamine percentage on Dowex L-285 at various temperatures. (a): dichloromethane, (b): cyclohexane, (c): benzene, (d): toluene, (e): ethyl acetate, (f): ethanol, (g): n-propanol, (h): i-propanol, (i): n-butanol, and (j): i-butanol.
Figure 4.
Variations of the free polar energy of polar organic probes adsorbed on the different solid materials as a function of melamine percentage on Dowex L-285 at various temperatures. (a): dichloromethane, (b): cyclohexane, (c): benzene, (d): toluene, (e): ethyl acetate, (f): ethanol, (g): n-propanol, (h): i-propanol, (i): n-butanol, and (j): i-butanol.
Figure 5.
Variations of and against of polar solvents adsorbed on Dowex L-285 modified by different percentages of melamine.
Figure 5.
Variations of and against of polar solvents adsorbed on Dowex L-285 modified by different percentages of melamine.
Figure 9.
Evolution of the separation distance (in Å) between the organic solvents and Dowex L-285 modified by melamine supramolecule as a function of the temperature.
Figure 9.
Evolution of the separation distance (in Å) between the organic solvents and Dowex L-285 modified by melamine supramolecule as a function of the temperature.
Figure 6.
Curves of the Lewis’s enthalpic and entropic acid-base constants , , , , the acid-base ratios, and the corresponding parameters SK = KA+KD and SK = ωA+ ωD. as a function of melamine percentage.
Figure 6.
Curves of the Lewis’s enthalpic and entropic acid-base constants , , , , the acid-base ratios, and the corresponding parameters SK = KA+KD and SK = ωA+ ωD. as a function of melamine percentage.
Figure 7.
Variations of acid and base surface energy components, and total energy () of Dowex L-285 modified by different melamine percentages as a function of temperature: Dowex L-285 (a), 1% Melamine (b), 2% Melamine (c), 3% Melamine (d), 4% Melamine (e), base surface energy (f), acid surface energy (g), acid-base surface energy (h), total surface energy (i).
Figure 7.
Variations of acid and base surface energy components, and total energy () of Dowex L-285 modified by different melamine percentages as a function of temperature: Dowex L-285 (a), 1% Melamine (b), 2% Melamine (c), 3% Melamine (d), 4% Melamine (e), base surface energy (f), acid surface energy (g), acid-base surface energy (h), total surface energy (i).
Figure 8.
Variations of polar surface energy () of the different polar solvents adsorbed on Dowex L-285 modified by different melamine percentages as a function of temperature: Dowex L-285 (a), 1% Melamine (b), 2% Melamine (c), 3% Melamine (d), 4% Melamine (e).
Figure 8.
Variations of polar surface energy () of the different polar solvents adsorbed on Dowex L-285 modified by different melamine percentages as a function of temperature: Dowex L-285 (a), 1% Melamine (b), 2% Melamine (c), 3% Melamine (d), 4% Melamine (e).
Table 1.
Linear expressions of of Dowex L-285 modified by different percentages of melamine, regression coefficients, London dispersive surface entropy , extrapolated values of London dispersive surface energy at 0K and 298.15K, and the temperature maximum
Table 1.
Linear expressions of of Dowex L-285 modified by different percentages of melamine, regression coefficients, London dispersive surface entropy , extrapolated values of London dispersive surface energy at 0K and 298.15K, and the temperature maximum
Solid material |
(mJ/m2) |
R² |
(mJ m−2 K−1) |
(mJ/m2) |
(mJ/m2) |
(K) |
Dowex L-285
|
= -0.835T + 482.43 |
0.9980 |
-0.835 |
482.43 |
233.47 |
577.8 |
1% Melamine
|
= -0.907T + 496.21 |
0.9972 |
-0.907 |
496.21 |
225.79 |
547.1 |
2% Melamine
|
= -0.656T + 341.59 |
0.9590 |
-0.656 |
341.59 |
146.12 |
521.0 |
3% Melamine
|
= -0.827T + 439.96 |
0.9608 |
-0.827 |
439.96 |
193.51 |
532.3 |
4% Melamine
|
= -0.876T + 473.64 |
0.9735 |
-0.876 |
473.64 |
212.40 |
540.6 |
Table 2.
Values of the Lewis’s acid-base constants , , , , the acid-base ratios, and the linear regression coefficient R2 relative to Dowex L-285 modified by different melamine percentages with the corresponding parameters SK = KA+KD and SK = ωA+ ωD.
Table 2.
Values of the Lewis’s acid-base constants , , , , the acid-base ratios, and the linear regression coefficient R2 relative to Dowex L-285 modified by different melamine percentages with the corresponding parameters SK = KA+KD and SK = ωA+ ωD.
Material |
KA |
KD |
KD/KA |
KA+KD |
R2 |
10−3ωA
|
10−3ωD
|
ωD/ωA |
10−3 (ωA+ ωD) |
R2
|
Dowex L-285 |
0.550 |
0.844 |
1.53 |
1.393 |
0.999 |
1.05 |
0.55 |
0.5 |
1.59 |
0.9968 |
1% Melamine on Dowex L-285 |
0.164 |
1.455 |
8.85 |
1.620 |
0.9783 |
0.09 |
2.81 |
30.2 |
2.90 |
0.9316 |
2% Melamine on Dowex L-285 |
0.160 |
2.137 |
13.38 |
2.297 |
0.9989 |
0.22 |
4.00 |
18.5 |
4.21 |
0.9520 |
3% Melamine on Dowex L-285 |
0.193 |
3.263 |
16.90 |
3.456 |
0.9938 |
0.22 |
6.30 |
28.0 |
6.52 |
0.9695 |
4% Melamine on Dowex L-285 |
0.218 |
3.401 |
15.58 |
3.619 |
0.9276 |
0.34 |
5.00 |
14.8 |
5.34 |
0.9702 |
Table 3.
Values of for dichloromethane and ethyl acetate adsorbed on Dowex L-285 modified with different melamine percentages at different temperatures.
Table 3.
Values of for dichloromethane and ethyl acetate adsorbed on Dowex L-285 modified with different melamine percentages at different temperatures.
Dichloromethane |
T(K) |
Dowex L-285 |
1% Melamine |
2% Melamine |
3% Melamine |
4% Melamine |
453.15 |
15.274 |
15.609 |
24.349 |
9.737 |
16.294 |
458.15 |
15.239 |
15.559 |
24.294 |
9.352 |
16.452 |
463.15 |
15.204 |
15.509 |
24.239 |
8.967 |
16.012 |
468.15 |
15.169 |
15.459 |
24.184 |
8.582 |
15.989 |
473.15 |
15.134 |
15.409 |
24.129 |
8.197 |
12.318 |
Ethyl acetate |
T(K) |
Dowex L-285 |
1% Melamine |
2% Melamine |
3% Melamine |
4% Melamine |
453.15 |
10.106 |
8.503 |
9.667 |
10.567 |
39.887 |
458.15 |
9.593 |
8.378 |
9.507 |
10.314 |
38.842 |
463.15 |
9.079 |
8.253 |
9.347 |
10.060 |
37.077 |
468.15 |
8.566 |
8.128 |
9.187 |
9.807 |
35.814 |
473.15 |
8.052 |
8.003 |
9.027 |
9.553 |
30.163 |