Assessing interactions between antibiotics and triazine porous organic polymeric sorbents by photophysics

This study purposes three triazine-based porous organic polymers (T-POPs 1-3) as advanced platforms for the early detection of antibiotic-polluted environments and effective water decontamination, in order to mitigate water pollution and antimicrobial resistance, which are two huge current problems damaging ecosystems and human health. T-POPs exhibited good performances as adsorbents for the removal of sulfamethazine (SMT) and tetracycline (TC) from water, with efficiencies up to 97% and 96%, and maximum adsorption capacities between (0.36-0.44) and (0.21-0.27) mmol g^-1, respectively, which are similar or even higher (up to 40.3 times) than those reported for other materials. In addition, good reusability was achieved, particularly for T-POP2, despite being the polymer with the lowest surface area. A slightly higher selectivity of T-POPs for sulfonamides and the best performance of T-POP3 to remove six antibiotics from a micromolar solution were observed. T-POPs also acted as fluorescent chemosensors, since T-POP1 underwent linear Stern-Volmer fluorescence quenching in the presence of both SMT and TC, while the enhanced-fluorescent T-POP2 and T-POP3 experienced fluorescence extinction through a sphere of action mechanism in contact with TC, and bathochromic shift accompanied by a hyperchromic effect on the new fluorescent region with the increase in SMT concentration. Thus, T-POP2 and T-POP3 can both promote a selective on-site monitoring of each drug in contaminated water streams and an efficient water remediation, thanks to the synergy between hydrogen and van der Waals interactions. In summary, these triazine-based porous organic polymers are promising materials for the simultaneous monitoring and treatment of antibiotic-containing water and wastewaters.