Synthesis, characterization and adsorption performance of molecularly imprinted nanoparticles for tripterine by precipitation polymerization

Abstract

Synthesis of molecularly imprinted nanoparticles for tripterine with good selectivity and high adsorption capacity by precipitation polymerization is presented for the first time, in which tripterine, methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate were used as a template molecule, functional monomer and cross-linker, respectively. The preparation conditions of molecularly imprinted nanoparticles were optimized, and the optimal molar ratio of template to functional monomer to cross-linker was 1 : 3 : 3. And non-imprinted polymers (NIPs) for control experiments were also prepared. The nanoparticles were characterized using a scanning electron microscope, laser particle size analyzer and BET, respectively. The results indicated that the imprinted nanoparticles were spherical in shape and the size was relatively uniform. Selectivity analysis suggested that the obtained imprinted nanoparticles could specifically recognize tripterine. In addition, adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherm of the imprinted nanoparticles were utilized to study the binding characteristics of the imprinted nanoparticles. The results revealed that the imprinted nanoparticles had high adsorption capacity and the maximum adsorption capacity of tripterine on the imprinted particles was up to 145.97 mg g⁻¹. In potential application research, this adsorbent was satisfactorily employed as a solid-phase extraction sorbent to extract TTR in urine samples.