Molecularly Imprinted Membrane Applied for Selective Separation

Abstract

Molecular Imprinting Polymer (VHP) technique is well known for creating polymer materials with molecule selectivity in adsorption and separation. MIPs have mostly been prepared by bulk polymerization and grinding the resulting brittle polymer to prepare particles of the desired dimensions. However, this technique also suffered some backdrops such as limitation in its application due to powder shape and limitation in binding ability. To circumvent these problems, we had extended such technique on formation of membrane adsorbents using phase inversion imprinting technique. Namely, copolymerization of a template-containing monomers with commercial scaffold monomer was achieved such membranes in order to selectively separate the target molecules. One main feature of this system is the imprinted polymer forming film which is possible to be use as filtration materials for selective separation. In the present study, we prepared the imprinted membranes by copolymerization of covalently linked tocopherol methacrylate (α-TMA) monomer and acrylonitrile (AN) followed by phase inversion in water non-solvent for membrane formation. Herein, the evidence included advantage in phase inversion covalently imprinting technique in their binding natures to tocopherol (Toe) and phenol derivatives and was studied on basis of selectivity of the imprinted membrane. Scatchard analysis indicated that the imprinted membranes exhibited high affinity and good selective binding of α-Toc relative to its analogs, δ-Toc and 4-chromanol (4-Chr). Results of permeation of Toes and phenol mixture showed that the imprinted membranes were achieved higher separation factor of α-Toc and 4-Chr as compared to the non-imprinted membrane. This indicated that the covalent imprinting of α-Toc in AN segment scaffold was able to recognize both chemical structures with or without methyl group in the Toe derivatives. © 2011 Asian Network for Scientific Information.