Selective adsorption and removal of drug contaminants by using an extremely stable Cu(II)-based 3D metal-organic framework.

The adsorption capacity of three representative pharmaceutical drugs and personal care products (PPCPs) viz. diclofenac sodium (DCF), chlorpromazine hydrochloride (CLF) and amodiaquin dihydrochloride (ADQ), were preliminarily studied using a water-stable Cu(II)-based metal organic framework (MOF) [Cu(BTTA)]n·2DMF (1) (H2BTTA = 1,4-bis(triazol-1-yl)terephthalic acid). We also investigated the factors influencing the adsorption such as concentration, pH, contact time, temperature and dosages. The results show that the adsorption capacity of 1 for DCF (650 mg g-1) from aqueous medium, which is higher in comparison to most of the reported MOFs. While the adsorption of CLF and ADQ are only 67 mg g-1 and 72 mg g-1, respectively. The adsorption isotherm and adsorption kinetics indicated that the adsorption of diclofenac sodium by 1 follows Freundlich model with R2 value of 0.9902 and pseudo-first-order kinetics with correlation coefficient 0.9939 and K1 value of 0.0058 min-1, respectively. Investigations indicate that 1 could become a potential material to adsorb DCF from aqueous medium.