Application of cucurbituril derivatives to dye removal agent

Glycoluril-formaldehyde copolymer, obtained by the reaction of glycoluril with formaldehyde, is an insoluble compound in water and in most organic solvents. This copolymer can be converted into a macrocyclic compound named "cucurbituril" by further reaction. In this study, we found that this copolymer effectively decolorized direct dyes and reactive dyes aqueous solution and that the decolorization efficiency was not only uninfluenced by temperature and pH, but also considerably better than that of cucurbituril. Mechanism of decolorization was investigated by using model compounds for the dyes.