Interactions of polyelectrolytes bearing carboxylate and/or sulfonate groups with Cu(II) and Ni(II)

The interactions between the water-soluble polyelectrolytes poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and poly(vinyl sulfonic acid) (PVS), and Cu(II) and Ni(II) are studied by the liquid-phase polymer-based retention (LPR) technique. Assuming a Ni(II)–PVS interaction of electrostatic nature, the nature of the Ni(II)–PAA interaction is found to be electrostatic, while Cu(II)–PAA interactions imply the formation of coordinative bonds. The charge related formation constants for the systems Ni(II)–PAA, Ni(II)–PVS, and Cu(II)–PVS are found to be 57.57×102, 43.4×102, and 60.5×102 M−1, respectively in a 0.010 M NaNO3 aqueous solution at pH 5, and 1.4×102 for both systems containing Ni(II) and 1.3×102 M−1 for the system Cu(II)–PVS in a 0.10 M NaNO3 aqueous solution at pH 5.