A Tunable Porous β-Cyclodextrin Polymer Platform to Understand and Improve Anionic PFAS Removal

Cross-linked polymers containing β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) are promising adsorbents with demonstrated removal performances for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) from contaminated water sources. Despite the promising performance of some β-CD-based adsorbents for PFAS removal, many of these materials are not amenable for rational performance improvement or addressing fundamental questions about the PFAS adsorption mechanisms. These ambiguities arise from the poorly defined structure of the cross-linked polymers, especially with respect to the random substitution patterns of the cyclodextrins as well as side reactions that modify the structures of some cross-linkers. Here, we report a new β-CD polymer platform in which styrene groups are covalently attached to β-CD to form a discrete monomer that is amenable to radical polymerization. This monomer was polymerized with styrene and methacrylate comonomers to provide three β-CD polymers with high specific surface areas and high isolated yields (all >93%). A β-CD polymer copolymerized with a methacrylate bearing a cationic functional group achieved nearly 100% removal for eight anionic PFASs (initial concentration of 1 μg/L for each compound) in nanopure water at an exceedingly low adsorbent loading of 1 mg L-1, as compared to previous cyclodextrin polymers that required loadings at least 1 order of magnitude higher to achieve an equivalent degree of PFAS removal. Furthermore, when the adsorbents were studied in a challenging salt matrix, we observed that long-chain PFAS adsorption was controlled by a complementary interplay of hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions, whereas short-chain PFASs primarily relied on electrostatic interactions. This approach demonstrates great promise for anionic PFAS removal, and we anticipate that new compositions will be tailored using the versatility of radical polymerization to simultaneously target PFASs and other classes of micropollutants in the future.