Abstract
The conversion of renewable plant polyphenol to advanced materials with tailorable properties and various functions is desirable and challenging. In this work, monovalent cation-phenolic crystals contained K+ or Na+ ions were synthesized by using plant polyphenol as an organic source in alkaline solution. The crystal structure was resolved, showing a laminar crystal structure with M+ as connecting nodes. The morphologies (e.g., rod-like and spindle-shaped) and chemical compositions of crystals could be tuned by changing the cations. Interestingly, these polymer crystals exhibited a pH-driven reversible crystal transformation. They transformed into their protonated crystalline form under acidic conditions (e.g., pH 2) and went back to the cation-bound crystalline form in alkaline solutions. Furthermore, the crystals proved excellent antioxidants and heavy metal ion adsorbents.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 12281-12287 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Chemistry - A European Journal |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue number | 53 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 20 Sep 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- cations
- crystal engineering
- pH dependence
- polymer crystal
- tannic acid
