Synthesis of zinc-carboxylate metal-organic frameworks for the removal of emerging drug contaminant (amodiaquine) from aqueous solution.

We herein report the removal of amodiaquine, an emerging drug contaminant from aqueous solution using [Zn2 (fum)2 (bpy)] and [Zn4 O(bdc)3 ] (fum=fumaric acid; bpy=4,4-bipyridine; bdc=benzene-1,4-dicarboxylate) metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as adsorbents. The adsorbents were characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). Adsorption process for both adsorbents were found to follow the pseudo-first-order kinetics, and the adsorption equilibrium data fitted best into the Freundlich isotherm with the R2 values of 0.973 and 0.993 obtained for [Zn2 (fum)2 (bpy)] and [Zn4 O(bdc)3 ] respectively. The maximum adsorption capacities foramodiaquine in this study were found to be 0.478 and 47.62mg/g on the [Zn2 (fum)2 (bpy)] and [Zn4 O(bdc)3 ] MOFs respectively, and were obtained at pH of 4.3 for both adsorbents. FT-IR spectroscopy analysis of the MOFs after the adsorption process showed the presence of the drug. The results of the study showed that the prepared MOFs could be used for the removal of amodiaquine from wastewater.