Polymers and Functional Graphenic Materials to Remediate Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity

Heavy metal toxicity has been known for thousands of years, but efforts are still underway to remediate their harmful effects. Exposure can occur through countless routes, ranging from domestic exposures in lead paint and contaminated drinking water, to failing metallic implants, to chronic exposures from an activity like mining, and many more. The severity of heavy metal poisoning ranges from innocuous to extremely detrimental. There exists a medical intervention known as chelation therapy to forcefully reduce heavy metal ion concentrations in the body, but these typically come with harmful and unpleasant side effects, that render the treatment, in many cases, not worth using. 

Patients who undergo chelation therapy typically have either had chronic exposure to heavy metals or have had a dreadful incident that resulted in extremely high internal heavy metal ion levels. While some have had success with chelation therapy, many do not, and few report having a good experience. Patients with low-level heavy metal poisoning, which comprise the vast majority, do not experience chelation therapy at all. They are left with an unideal option: eliminate any source of heavy metal exposure and wait for levels to go down naturally, which is a very slow process where progress is measured in months and years; meanwhile, toxic heavy metal ions are still circulating throughout the body. The most common situation for this unfortunate reality is with parents who have a lead poisoned child and are told by medical professionals that as long as the child is otherwise healthy, there is no effective treatment that is worth using, so they are left to wait, and hope. 

This thesis targets closing this gap in treatment by introducing a new approach to chelation therapy by using naturally occurring polymers and covalently modifying the structure to allow for effective heavy metal adsorption and clearance. The work presented in this thesis also targets eliminating potential sources of heavy metals, such as from food, water, and metallic implants.