One-step synthesis of boronic acid-functionalized hypercrosslinked polymers for efficient separation of 1,2,4-butanetriol

The efficient separation of high-value chemicals 1,2,4-butanetriol (BT) with low concentration and high boiling point from fermentation broth has been gaining intensive investigation in recent years. In this work, inspired by the high affinity of the boronic acid group to the cis-dihydroxy containing molecule, a series of novel boronic acid-functionalized hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs) were synthesized through a one-step Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction for specific adsorption and separation of BT in the model fermentation broth. It was found that the boronic acid group significantly boosts the binding capacity of BT through boronate affinity. Results show that HCP-MB4 demonstrates the highest saturated adsorption capacity of 148.2 mg/g. In addition, HCP-MB4 exhibited fast adsorption kinetics (reaching the adsorption equilibrium in 10 min) and excellent recycle performance (the adsorption capacity retains higher than 90% after 5 successive adsorption-desorption cycles), indicating prospective industrial application potentials for BT separation in the actual fermentation broth.