Preparation and properties of macroreticular resins containing thiazole and thiazoline groups

Three macroreticular polystyrene-based resins with amino- or imino-thiazole and thiazoline groups as the functional groups have been prepared. The resins are highly stable in acid and alkaline solutions and have high selectivity for mercury(II). In the presence of hydrochloric acid, sorption of mercury attains equilibrium fairly rapidly, the time for 50% uptake of mercury being 3–6 min. There are practically no interferences. In a column operation, mercury is quantitatively recovered by elution with 0.1 M hydrochloric acid containing 5% thiourea. The thiazoline resin column can be used to concentrate mercury from sea-water.