Synthesis and characterization of high selective molecularly imprinted polymers for bisphenol A and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid by using supercritical fluid technology

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been extensively used in chemical and biochemical related areas due to their high molecular recognition affinity and selectivity for the target molecule. On the other hand, supercritical polymerization is relatively novel technique, which can be applied in the polymerization without hazard organic solvent. This work introduces a supercritical fluid polymerization technique for preparation of MIP particles. The adsorption properties of prepared MIP particles are also investigated. The MIPs were prepared with methyl methacrylate (MMA) as a third monomer, methacrylic acid (MAA) as a functional monomer, templates (bisphenol A (BPA) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)), methyl methacrylate (MMA) as a third vinyl monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as a cross-linker. Equilibrium binding experiments are conducted to evaluate the binding characteristics of MIPs and templates (BPA and 2,4-D). The Scatchard plot analysis demonstrates that two classes of binding sites are formed with the equilibrium dissociation constants. The adsorption ability of the MIPs was also evaluated by measuring the adsorbed amounts of a similar imprinted template structure, the selectivity factor (α), and the imprinting-induced promotion of binding (IPB).