A novel type of heavy metal adsorbent was prepared by the covalent grafting of thioglycolic acid molecules on a silica gel surface previsiouly modified with 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane. The amount of thioglycolic acid immobilized was 1.03 mmol per gram of silica. This material displayed a chelating moiety containing nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen basic centers which are potentially capable of extracting from aqueous solutions cations such as Cu(II), Ni(II), Co(II), influenced by pH and ionic strength. This process of extraction was carried out by the batch method when similar chemisorption isotherms were observed for all cations. A modified Langmuir equation describes the experimental data.
silica gel; chemisorption; thioglycolic acid
