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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lubbock, Texas » Cropping Systems Research Laboratory » Wind Erosion and Water Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #359056

Research Project: Optimizing Water Use Efficiency for Environmentally Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems in Semi-Arid Regions

Location: Wind Erosion and Water Conservation Research

Title: Investigating the specificity of thiourea host molecules for inorganic phosphate

Author
item DAVIS, TODD - Air Force Institute Of Technology, Afit
item CULLEN, ALEX - Air Force Institute Of Technology, Afit
item ARAGAY, GEMMA - Agricultural Institute Of Spain
item BALLESTER, PABLO - Agricultural Institute Of Spain
item GOEBEL, TIMOTHY - Texas Tech University
item Lascano, Robert

Submitted to: American Chemical Society Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/4/2019
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: While phosphate is a nutrient necessary for both plant and animal life, over fertilization and fecal waste runoff can cause increases in inorganic phosphate concentration in neighboring water reservoirs. This increased concentration of inorganic phosphate can lead to a variety of environmental problems including eutrophication (excess growth of plants and algae). To alleviate these environmental concerns, methods for the selective removal of inorganic phosphate in the presence of other naturally occurring anions are needed. To address this problem, our laboratories have developed polymer flocculants that can be used to remove inorganic phosphate from simulated wastewater. This poster will focus on our recent binding studies (UV-vis, NMR, and ITC) between anions (chloride, phosphate, and sulfate) and a thiourea derived trapping group. These binding studies indicated that our thiourea trapping group has a higher binding affinity compared to other natural occurring anions (sulfate and chloride) supporting our results from the wastewater studies.