Macroporous nanocomposite of poly (glycidyl methacrylate-co-ethylene glycol
dimethacrylate) and acid modified bentonite was prepared by radical
suspension copolymerization. Nanocomposite was functionalized with diethylene
triamine (deta), by ring-opening reaction of the pendant epoxy groups.
Functionalization was performed in order to enable phenol derivatives
sorption. This new, not sufficiently investigated material, with developed
porous structure was denoted CP-SA-deta. In this study, the influence of
temperature on 4-nitrophenol (4NP) sorption on CP-SA-deta was investigated.
The chemisorption was estimated as dominant process since activation energy
of sorption of 4NP of 54.8 kJ mol-1 was obtained. After determining the
optimal sorption conditions for 4NP, the sorption of 2-nitrophenol (2NP) and
2-chloro 4-nitrophenol (2Cl4NP) on CP-SA-deta was investigated with respect
to pH, initial concentration and contact time. The 2NP sorption was seldom
tested, while according to our knowledge, the 2Cl4NP sorption was not
investigated. The isotherm data were best fitted with Langmuir model, while
the sorption dynamics obeyed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model for all
derivatives.