# Novel Polymer Sorbents with Imprinted Task-Specific Ionic Liquids for Metal Removal
## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Structural and Thermal Characterization of the Sorbents  
The FTIR spectra confirmed the fabrication of poly(vinylbenzyl chloride-co-divinylbenzene); the substitution of chlorine atom with bromine; and further quaternization of 1-(4-pyridyl)undecan-1-one (K4.10), 1-(3-pyridyl)undecan-1-one (K3.10), 1-(4-pyridyl)undecan-1-one oxime (Ox4.10), and 1-(3-pyridyl)undecan-1-one oxime (Ox3.10). In the case of VBC, the spectrum confirmed the presence of a -CH\({}_{2}\)Cl functional group located at the benzene ring. The peak at 1261 cm\({}^{-1}\) was attributed to stretching vibrations of the chloromethyl group, and the peak at 802 cm\({}^{-1}\) was due to stretching vibrations of C-Cl. The exchange of Cl on Br resulted in a shift of these bands to lower wavenumbers (-CH\({}_{2}\)Br and C-Br vibrations observed at 10/71 cm\({}^{-1}\) and 70/7 cm\({}^{-1}\), respectively). Comparing the spectra of VBC or VBBr, and the sorbents after modification (VBC-K3.10, VBC-K4.10, VBC-Ox3.10, VBC-K3.10, VBBr-K4.10, VBBr-Ox3.10, and VBBr-Ox4.10), the peaks at 1600-1605 cm\({}^{-1}\) and 1508 cm\({}^{-1}\) assigned to the C=N and C=C ring stretching vibrations of pyridine, respectively, were indicated. Moreover, in the case of the VBC-K3.10, VBC-K4.10, VBBr-K3.10, and VBBr-K4.10 resins, the peaks at 1720, 1722, 1701, and at 1702 cm\({}^{-1}\), respectively, were assigned to the C=O stretching vibrations of ketone group were observed. In contrast, for VBC-Ox3.10, VBC-Ox4.10, VBBr-Ox3.10, and VBBr-Ox4.10, the bands corresponding to oxime C=N were observed at 1635, 1647, 1632, and 1639 cm\({}^{-1}\), respectively. Obtaining the materials at each stage of the synthesis was also confirmed by Raman analysis (Figure 2a-d). The Raman spectra of VBC and VBBr show differences in the position of the bands. In the spectra of VBC, the bands assigned to the stretching vibrations of -CH\({}_{2}\)Cl and C-Cl are present at 1265 cm\({}^{-1}\) and 674 cm\({}^{-1}\), respectively. In turn, in the spectra of VBBr, the bands assigned to -CH\({}_{2}\)Br and C-Br are shifted to lower wavenumbers and are indicated at 1227 and 609 cm\({}^{-1}\), respectively. In the Raman spectra of all modified VBBr and VBC, there are bands related to VBBr and VBC, and the new bands at 1030 and 1117 cm\({}^{-1}\) are assigned to C-H vibrations of the pyridine ring in Ox3.10 and Ox4.10, respectively. The Raman map (Figure 2c) presenting the ratio of the 1001 cm\({}^{-1}\) band intensity (related to VBC) to the 1030 cm\({}^{-1}\) band intensity (related to Ox3.10) (Figure 2d) was used to evaluate the effectiveness of VBC modification. The Raman map confirms that the VBC was successfully modified. The 1030 cm\({}^{-1}\) band is observed in all Raman spectra collected on the entire analyzed surface. The other Raman spectroscopy results also confirm that VBC as well as VBBr was efficiently modified with other compounds. \begin{table}
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**Kinetic Model** & **Equation * & **Equation** \\ \hline Pseudo-first order & \(\mathrm{q_{t}}=\mathrm{q_{e}}\) \(\left(1-\mathrm{e^{-k_{t}t}}\right)\) & (3) \\ Pseudo-second order & \(\mathrm{q_{t}}=\frac{\mathrm{k_{e}}\mathrm{d^{2}}}{1+\mathrm{k_{e}}\mathrm{d^{2 }}}\) & (4) \\ [PERSON] & \(\mathrm{q_{t}}=\frac{\mathrm{g}}{\mathrm{g}}\mathrm{m}\) (\(\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{ \mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{\mathrm{ \mathrm{       }}}}}}}}}}}}}}} \mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}}\mathrm{}\mathrm{} \mathrm{}}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\) & (5 The surface morphologies of VBC and VBBr particles were observed by SEM, and representative images are presented in Figure 3. In the case of VBC, it was observed that more than 90 percent of the imaged grains are in the size range of 175-300 micrometers (diameter). The mean value of the grain diameter is 258 microns, with an average deviation of 46 microns.