Comparison of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) and sol–gel molecularly imprinted silica (MIS) for fungicide in a hydro alcoholic solution

Abstract

The aim of this work was (i) to design the best molecularly imprinted silica (MIS) specific for iprodione, a fungicide polluting water, fruits, wine and (ii) to compare the performance of the optimal MIS with its analogue molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP), with the objective to obtained the highest imprinting factor possible. Iprodione was widely used in viticulture. It was recently banned by the European community because of its carcinogenic potential and its presence in or on foods.The binding capacity performance of these polymers was investigated using batch binding studies in hydro alcoholic solutions (10 and 50 %). Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin models have been used to fit adsorption isotherms. The optimal MIS was obtained using APTMS as functional monomer, low solvent solventvolume and high cross linker quantity during its synthesis. Increasing the quantity of crosslinker and decreasing the solvent volume during the MIS synthesis enhanced the imprinting factor and the binding capacity.The optimal MIS had a higher imprinting factor but a lower binding capacity than the optimal MIP specific to iprodione. The imprinting factor of the optimal MIS was 135 times higher than the optimal MIP. Unlike MIP, MIS kept its molecular recognition nature even under extremely polar media such as the aqueous sample.