Abstract
This research deals with two main topics; The first one concerns an investigation on meso-tetramethyl-tetrakis-(4-N,N- diethylacetamide phenoxymethyl]calix[4]pyrrole (CPA) and it includes: i) A bibliographical review about calixpyrroles ii) The synthesis and characterisation (structural and thermodynamic) of CPA in different solvents. iii) A detailed study of the interaction of CPA with different ionic species using different techniques (1H NMR, conductance and calorimetry). It is demonstrated that CPA and its parent compound not only interact with anions but also with cations, and thermodynamic data for cation complexation processes involving these receptors are first reported. The second topic of this work concerns: i) A general review about silica and its different forms with a discussion on hexagonal mesoporous silicas. ii) Synthesis and characterisation (XRD, IR, TGA-DTA, elemental analysis and N2 sorption).of these materials. iii) An investigation of the applications of synthesized silicas for the removal of a wide range of pollutants (polyphenols, pesticides, dyes and ionic species) from aqueous medium. Parameters aiming to establish the optimal experimental conditions for the removal of pollutants from water (mass: solution ratio, pH and temperature effects) as well as the kinetics of the extraction processes have been investigated.. Conclusions, suggestions and perspectives for future work are included.