Synthesis and Characterization of Molecularly ImprintedPolymerMicro/nanospheres for Thymol by precipitation polymerization

In this work, molecularly imprinted micro/nanospheres for thymol have been synthesized byprecipitation polymerization. The molecularly imprinted micro/nanospheres were prepared usingthymol as the template molecule, methacrylic acid as a functional monomer andtrimethylolpropanetrimethacrylate(TRIM) as a cross-linker. Morphological properties weredetermined by atomic force microscopy which showed the MIP particles were spherical withaverage diameter of 212 nm.The adsorption and recognition ability of MIP for thymol wereexamined by the batch binding experiment and also effect of pH on the bindingefficiency ofthymolwas investigated. The results showed that MIP hasgoodadsorptionfor thymol as could reachto 75.6% at 40 mg/l at pH = 7.The mixture of methanol/acetic acid (9:1 V/V) was used as eluent,and the adsorbed thymol was eluted easily from MIPs, that confirm the reusability of thesematerials.

Keywords:

Molecularly imprinted polymer , Micro/nanosphere , Precipitation polymerization , adsorption , Thymol