Ion-exchange of montmorillonite with para-bis(triphenyl phosphonium methylene)-benzene ions (p-TPhPMB) provided an organo-montmorillonite adsorbent with improved affinity towards Telon dyes. Adsorption tests applied to Telon-red and Telon-blue in the presence of Cu(II) cations revealed a significant increase in the maximum adsorption capacity from ca. 11-26 for the starting clay mineral to ca. 110-160 mg.g-1 after intercalation. This improvement was attributed to increases in both the organophilic character towards the organic dyestuffs investigated and the interlayers spacing. Besides dye-diphosphonium and Cu(II)-diphosphonium interactions, dye adsorption on organo-montmorillonite also involved the formation of Cu(II) exchanged Telon-dye species. It was found that dye adsorption involves not only binary interactions between the three chemical species, but also synergy due to a possible bridging action of the divalent Cu(II) cations. On organo-Mt, the organophilic character was a key factor for higher amounts of adsorbed dye.
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