Enhanced sorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to tetra-alkyl ammonium modified smectites via cation-π interactions

The objective of this study was to characterize molecular sorptive interactions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by organoclays modified with quaternary ammonium cations. Three PAHs, naphthalene (NAPH), phenanthrene (PHEN), and pyrene (PYR), and three chlorobenzenes, 1,2-dichlorobenzene (DCB), 1,2,4,5-tetrachlorobenzene (TeCB), and pentachlorobenzene (PtCB), were sorbed from aqueous solution to reference montmorillonite clays (SWy-2) exchanged respectively with tetramethyl ammonium (TMA), tetraethyl ammonium (TEA), tetra-n-butyl ammonium (TBA), and hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium (HDTMA) cations. Solute hydrophobicities are compared between PAHs and chlorobenzenes using the solute n-octanol-water partition coefficient, n-hexadecane-water partition coefficient, and polyethylene-water distribution coefficient. The PAHs show several- to more than 10-fold greater sorption than the chlorobenzenes having close hydrophobicities but fewer delocalized pi electrons (NAPH/DCB, PHEN/TeCB, and PYR/ PtCB) by TEA-, TBA-, and HDTMA-clays. Furthermore, the PAHs show greater trends of solubility enhancement than the compared chlorobenzenes by TMA, TEA, and TBA in aqueous solution. The enhanced sorption and aqueous solubility of PAHs are best described by cation-pi interactions between ammonium cations and PAHs relative to chlorobenzenes that are incapable of such interactions. Cation-pi complexation. between PAHs and tetra-alkyl ammonium cations in chloroform was verified by ring-current-induced upfield chemical shifts of the alkyl groups of cations in the H-1 NMR spectrum.