Open Journal of Organic Polymer Materials, 2014, 4, 29-36 Published Online January 2014 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojopm ) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojopm.2014.41005 OPEN ACCESS OJOPM Synthesis of Poly(APP-co-EGDMA) Particles Using Monomers Derived from Cashew Nut Shell Liquid for the Removal of Cr(III) from Aqueous Solutions Joseph Wilson 1 , Joseph Yoeza Naimani Philip 2 , James Epiphan Gabriel Mdoe 2 1 Department of Chemistry, St. John’s University of Tanzania, Dodoma, Tanzania 2 Chemistry Department, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Email: james_mdoe@yahoo.co.uk Received November 15, 2013; revised December 15, 2013; accepted December 22, 2013 Copyright © 2014 Joseph Wilson 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. In accor- dance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights © 2014 are reserved for SCIRP and the owner of the intellectual property Joseph Wilson et al. All Copyright © 2014 are guarded by law and by SCIRP as a guardian. ABSTRACT This work was aimed at synthesizing Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) based polymer particles for adsorption of Cr(III) ions from aqueous solutions. Natural CNSL was used as a starting material in synthesizing amino penta- decylphenols (APP). This was achieved through isolating anacardic acid from the CNSL via calcium anacardate procedure, followed by hydrogenation of the alkenyl side chains, and subsequently decarboxylating the product to form 3-pentadecylphenol, which was then nitrated and reduced to a mixture of APP. APP were co-polyme- rized with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) to form poly(APP-co-EGDMA) particles. The chemical structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by Fourier Transform IR and 1H-NMR. The co-poly- mer particles were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to establish their morphological properties. The prepared co-polymer particles were found to have -NH loading of 46 mmol/g and a maximum adsorption capacity for Cr(III) ions of 16 mg per g of dry polymer particles. The spent polymer particles were recoverable and reusable. KEYWORDS Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL); Amino Pentadecylphenols (APP); Poly(APP-co-EGDMA) 1. Introduction Environmental pollution by heavy metals is a widespread problem nowadays due to increased anthropogenic activ- ities. In most cases, the pollution load ends into water bodies thus threatening not only aquatic organisms, but also the quality of water for domestic uses. Pollution from heavy metals is one of the most serious environ- mental problems due to the fact that they bio-accumulate causing adverse effects to living organisms [1]. In view of this, their removal from industrial discharged effluents becomes an absolute necessity. Chromium is one of the heavy metals known to be toxic to humans and aquatic life. Various industrial efflu- ents from pigments, electroplating, dying, canning, textile, leather tanning, paint and steel industries contain substan- tial amounts of chromium. In general, these industrial effluents contain both Cr(III) and Cr(VI) ions. However, it is well established that Cr(III) is not as toxic as Cr(VI). Yet under suitable conditions, Cr(III) can readily be oxi- dized to Cr(VI) [2], thus underlying the importance of re- stricting its accumulation in the environment. Further- more, excessive buildup of Cr(III) ions can affect the ecology of the environment as well as inhibiting various enzyme systems in living organisms [3,4]. Long term ex- posure to Cr(III) is also known to cause cancer and aller- gic skin reactions [5]. The importance of minimizing the amount of Cr(III) ions in industrial effluents and other sources has led to the development of a number of removal methods. The commonly used methods for removing such metal ions from aqueous waste include precipitation, lime coagula- tion, semi-sedimentation, electro-dialysis, chemical reac-