Hindawi Publishing CorporationJournal of ChemistryVolume 2013, Article ID 240568, 10 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/240568

Research ArticleSynthesis of New Schiff Base from NaturalProducts for Remediation of Water Pollution withHeavy Metals in Industrial Areas

Reham Hassan,1,2 Hassan Arida,3,4 Manal Montasser,1,5 and Nehad Abdel Latif1,6

1 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Taif University, Saudi Arabia2 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt3Medicinal Chemistry Department, Pharmacy College, Taif University, Saudi Arabia4Hot Laboratories Center, Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, Egypt5 Central Lab of Pesticides, Agricultural Researches Center, Alexandria, Egypt6Natural Compounds Chemistry Department, Pharmaceutical Industries Division, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

Correspondence should be addressed to Reham Hassan; hussein6699@yahoo.com

Received 5 January 2013; Accepted 20 March 2013

Academic Editor: Huu Hao Ngo

Copyright 2013 Reham Hassan et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

A resin of [5-((E)-1-(ethylimino) ethyl)-4, 7-dimethoxy benzofuran-6-ol] Schiff base (EEDB) was prepared, characterized, andsuccessfully applied in the removal of Cu (II) ions from aqueous real samples. While the metal cation was detected using ICP-OES,the prepared Schiff base resin was characterized by means of FTIR, 1HNMR, mass spectral data, and elemental analysis. Variousfactors affecting the uptake behavior such as pH (212), contact time, effect of initialmetal concentration (10250 ppm), and effect ofSchiff base weight (0.11.5 gm) were studied. The adsorption process was relatively fast and equilibrium was established after about60min. The optimum initial pH was 8.0 at a metal ion concentration (100 ppm). Under the optimized conditions, the removal ofCu (II) from real samples of tap water was applied and the removal efficiency reached nearly 85%.The biological activity for Schiffbase was also investigated. The results showed that there is no significant difference between the effects of Schiff base on serum(alanine amino transferase) ALT and creatinine concentration activities in treated mice and control, at confidence limits 95%.

1. Introduction

Toxic heavy metal contamination of industrial wastewateris an important environmental problem. Many industriessuch as electroplating, pigments, metallurgical processes, andmining and leather industries release various concentrationsof heavy metals. Metal ions such as cadmium, chromium,copper, lead, zinc, manganese, and iron are commonlydetected in both natural and industrial effluents [1]. In spiteof strict regulations restricting their careless disposal, thesemetal cations may still emerge in a variety of wastewa-ters stemming from catalysts, electrical apparatus, paintingand coating, extractive metallurgy, antibacterial, insecticidesand fungicides, photography, pyrotechnics, smelting, metalelectroplating, fertilizer, mining, pigments, stabilizers, alloy

industries, electrical wiring, plumbing, heating, roofing andconstruction piping, water purification, gasoline additives,cable covering, ammunition and battery industries, andsewage sludge [24].

In the past few years, special attention has been givento the environmental contamination with heavy metal ionsbecause of their high toxicity and non-biodegradability. Thecommonly used procedures for removing metal ions fromeffluents include filtration [5], chemical precipitation [6],chemical coagulation [7], flocculation [8], ion exchange [9],reverse osmosis [10], membrane technologies [1113], andsolvent extraction [14]. However, these methods are limitedby high operational cost and/or may also be inefficient inthe removal of some toxic metal ions, mainly at trace levelconcentration [15, 16].

2 Journal of Chemistry

The use of adsorbents of biological and natural origin hasemerged in the last decade as one of themost promising alter-natives to conventional heavy metal management strategies.One of the promising methods is the use of chelating resins.Chelating resins are easily regenerated from metal ions andthey differ from activated carbon and ion exchange resins intheir high selectivity in sorption processes [17]. Many articlesthat cover a vast number of different chelating resins werereported [18, 19]. Recently, it was reported on the use ofmagnetic resins in removal of some metals from aqueoussolutions [20].Thesemethods are also cheap and often highlyscalable. Attention has recently been focused onnatural Schiffbases and its derivatives as bio-adsorbents. A large numberof Schiff bases have been studied for their interesting andimportant properties, for example, their ability to reversiblybind oxygen [21], catalytic activity in hydrogenation of olefins[22] and transfer of an amino group [23], photochromicproperties [24], and adsorbing ability towards some toxicmetals [25]. The Schiff base complexes were also tested forantibacterial activity against common pathogenic organismsand showed mild to moderate activity [26].

Schiff bases derived from an amino and carbonyl com-pound are an important class of ligands that coordinate tometal ions via azomethine nitrogen and have been studiedextensively [27]. In azomethine derivatives, the C=N link-age is essential for biological activity; several azomethineswere reported to possess remarkable antibacterial, antifungal,anticancer, and diuretic activities [28]. Schiff bases havewide applications in food industry, dye industry, analyticalchemistry, catalysis, fungicidal, agrochemical, and biologicalactivities [29, 30]. With the increasing incidence of deepmycosis there has been increasing emphasis on the screeningof new and more effective antimicrobial drugs with lowtoxicity. Schiff base complexes are considered to be among themost important stereo-chemical models in main group andtransition metal coordination chemistry due to their prepar-ative accessibility and structural variety [31]. A considerablenumber of Schiff base complexes have potential biologicalinterest, being used as more or less successful models ofbiological compounds [32]. They played a seminal role inthe development of modern coordination chemistry and canbe found at key points in the development of inorganicbiochemistry, catalysis, and optical materials [33].

Khellin (1) is an active principle extracted from the seedsof Ammi visnaga Lam. (Fam. Apiaceae) which is naturalsource of several furochromones, namely, visnagin, khellin,khellolglucoside, ammiol, and coumarin as visnadin. Khellinand psoralens bindwithDNA through cross-links to producemonoadducts. Thus khellin is used in photochemotherapy ofdermatoses such as vitiligo and psoriasis [3438]. It is knownthat hydrolysis of khellin gives very interesting derivativesnamely -aceto khellinone and khellinone (2) (Scheme 1).These two products are importantmolecules for the synthesisof new khellin derivatives [39]. The ring-opening reaction(ROR) of chromone was investigated by ab initio and densityfunctional theory methods by Kona et al. and Ali et al.[40, 41].

In the present work, new natural Schiff base was preparedand performed to adsorb Cu2+ ion in aqueous media. The

effects of the process parameters such as time of contact, pH,temperature, adsorbent dosage, and initial metal ion concen-trations on the removal were investigated. The synthesizedligands were also screened for their biological activity.

2. Expermental

2.1. Materials. All reagents used were of Analytical ReagentGrade stated. Sodium hydroxide and nitric acid (69%)were purchased from Avonchem (UK) and Sigma-Aldrich(Germany), respectively. De-ionized water with conductivity

Journal of Chemistry 3

OO

OCH3

OCH3

O

CH3

KOHH2O

KOH

O

OH

CH3

OCH3

OCH3 O

O

OH

OCH3

OCH3 O

O

CH3

C2H5OH

Khellin(1)

Khellinone(2)

-aceto khellinone

Scheme 1: The experimental chemical pathway for khellin hydrolysis.

OOCH3

OCH3

C

OH

CH3

O O

OCH3

OCH3

C

OH

N

CH3

CH2CH3

CH3CH2NH2

(3)(2)

Scheme 2

the relative standard deviation was automatically calculated.The RSD was 0.99998.

2.4. Preparation of Schiff Base. A Schiff base of 5-((E)-1-(substituted imino) ethyl)-4,7-dimethoxy benzofuran-6-ol (3af) was prepared according to Scheme 2, by mixture ofcompound (2) (0.01 mole) and a suitable amine (ethyl amine0.01 mole) and then refluxed in absolute ethanol (30mL)in presence of a catalytic amount of glacial acetic acid for12 to 15 hours. The reaction mixture was cooled and theprecipitate was filtered and re-crystallized from ethanol togive compounds (3, 4).

2.5. The Adsorption Behavior of the Schiff Base toward CopperIons. In the effect of pH studies, the uptake experiments

were performed at controlled pH and at room temperatureby shaking 0.1 g of dry Schiff base with 10mL (100mg/L)metal ion solutions of different pH values (212) for 60min at150 rpm. The pH of the solutions was adjusted using suitablebuffers.

The contact timemeasurements ofmetal ion uptake usingbatch method were conducted by placing amounts of 0.1 g ofthe prepared Schiff base in a series of stopper conical flaskscontaining 10mL (100mg/L) of copper ion solution at pH8. The batch sorption studies were carried out at differentcontact time intervals (5min, 15min, 30min, 1 h, 2 h, 5 h,and 24 h). The contents of the flask were shaken using amechanical shaker with 150 rpm at room temperature. Aftershaking the samples were individually filtrated and analyzedof residual metal ion concentration in solution.

The effect of initial concentration of the metal ion on theuptake of copper ions by Schiff basewas carried out by placing

4 Journal of Chemistry

0.1 g of dry Schiff base in a series of flasks containing 10mLof copper ions at definite concentrations (10250mg/L) andat pH 8. The contents of the flasks were equilibrated on theshaker with 150 rpm at room temperature for 60min. Afteradsorption, the samples were filtered and the concentrationof the metal ion was determined.

In the effect of the Schiff base weight studies, mea-surements of metal ion uptake using batch method wereperformed by placing different weights of adsorbent (0.1 g,0.25 g, 0.5 g, 0.8 g, 1 g, 1.5 g) in a series of stopper conical flaskcontaining 10mL (10mg/L, pH 8) of copper ions solutions.The contents of the flasks were shaking on a shaker with150 rpm for 60min at room temperature.

In all batch sorption studies, the percentage of metal ionremoval was evaluated from the following equation [1]:

% Removal =(0 )

0

100, (1)

where 0is the initial metal ion concentration and

is the

metal ion concentration at equilibrium.

2.6. Real Samples Applications. Aliquots of tap water col-lected from Taif City were used as real samples in this study.Under the optimized conditions of the adsorption behaviorof the prepared Schiff base towards copper ions mentionedabove, the copper content of the tested real samples weretreated with Schiff base similarly to the previous reportedprocedures. The copper concentration of the samples wasmeasured before and after treatment. The removal percentwas then calculated similarly.

2.7. Measurement of Biological Activity for Schiff Base. Anumber of 10 mice were purchased and used in the biologicalactivity studies to examine the effect of treated water usingthe investigated Schiff base.Themice were kept at the animalhouse center belong to Taif University for one week andwater fed ad libitum. The mice were divided into two groupswith five in each. The first group received distilled water andwas considered as a control group while the second groupreceived the filtered water after treatment with the preparedSchiff base. The experiment extended for 10 days after whichthemicewere killed using diethyl ether and the blood sampleswere individually obtained from medal canthus of the eye.Theblood sampleswere allowed to clot and the clear serawerekept in refrigerator without freezing till analysis.

In this study, the activity of alanine amino trans-ferase (ALT) was determined using ALT kit obtained fromHUMANCompany. Kineticmethod described by Schumannand Kluake [42] and used for the determination of ALTactivity using 200L of serum and 1000L consisting ofbuffer, working solution, and enzyme substrate. The mixturewas measured kinetically using UV-Vis spectrophotometer(160A Shimadzu) at 340 nm for 5 minutes interval. The ALTactivity was measured according to the following equation:

ALT activity (U/L) = absorbance 1151. (2)

Serum creatinine concentration was also measured usingcreatinine kit obtained from HUMAN Company. Kinetic

120

110

90

80

704000 3000 2000 1000 400

100

1

2 3

4

5

67

8

9

10

11

12

13 14

15

16 1718

19

20

21

222324

(%

)

Wavenumber (cm1)

Peak find-memory-59

Figure 1: The FTIR spectra of EEDB resin.

method described by to the Schirmeister [43] was usedin which 100 L of serum and 1000L of working solu-tion consisting of buffer, picric acid solution, and sodiumhydroxide was applied.Themixture wasmeasured kineticallyusingUV-Vis spectrophotometer (160A Shimadzu) at 500 nmfor 2 minutes interval. The serum creatinine was measuredaccording to the following equation:

creatinine concentration (mg/dL)

= ( absorbance for sample absorbance for standard

) 2.0.(3)

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Characterization of the Schiff Base. The starting material(2) was prepared as indicated in Scheme 1. Its IR spectrumshowed absorption bands at 3300 cm1 (OH), 3100 cm1(aromatic CH), 1711 cm1 (C=O carbonyl stretching). The1HNMR spectrum exhibited a singlet due to (OH) group at9.3 ppmwhich disappeared usingD

2O.Methyl at acetyl group

resonated as singlet signal at 2 ppm.Schiff base (3) was prepared as indicated in Scheme 2

similarly to those previously described [44], by refluxingsolutions of khellinone and amines in absolute ethanol for 1215 hours, in the presence of catalytic amount of glacial aceticacid. The structure of the products was inferred from theiranalytical and spectral data. The IR spectra of compounds(3) showed characteristics at 34003200 for OH, showed notonly the absence of C=O but also the presence of C=N at1660 cm1. The 1HNMR spectra showed the presence of theentered moiety.

The main bands observed in the IR spectrum of [5-((E)-1-(ethylimino) ethyl)-4, 7-dimethoxy benzofuran-6-ol] (3)(EEDB) was presented in Figure 1. As can be seen, a strongabsorption band at 1622 cm1 is attributed to C=N vibrationscharacteristic of imines [45, 46]. The bands at 3437, 3135, and2930 cm1 are attributed to the OH, CH aromatic, and CH aliphatic, respectively.