Hybrid organic/inorganic sol-gel materials containing an encapsulated crown
ether ligand were found to selectively remove 91.4 +/- 1.3% of Sr2+ from a
solution containing excess of competing ions such as Ca2+. The crown ether
ligand, 1,4,10,13-tetraoxa-7,1 6-diazacyclooctadecane-7, 16-bis(malonate)
ligand (Na(4)oddm), with known high affinity for Sr2+ was encapsulated in h
ydrophilic SiO2 through a simple sol-gel process. Washing the Sr2+-loaded g
el with acid or ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt recovered the
Sr2+ from the sol-gel sorbent and regenerated the doped gel for subsequent
Sr2+ intake. The approach reported here is a new alternative to the use of
crown ethers in metal ion separation through, for example, solvent extract
ion or the use of sorbents containing chemically grafted crown ether ligand
s.