Synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymer by suspension polymerization for selective extraction of p‐hydroxybenzoic acid from water

Abstract

ABSTRACTMolecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for selective extraction of p‐hydroxybenzoic acid (p‐HB) was synthesized by suspension polymerization using p‐HB as template, 4‐vinyl pyridine as functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinker. As characterized by scanning electron microscopy, the MIP particles are spherical, with size ranging from 1 to 8 μm. Compared with the non‐imprinted polymer (NIP), the MIP shows higher binding capacity toward p‐HB: maximum binding capacity for p‐HB being 8.07 μmol g−1 over MIP and 3.88 μmol g−1 over NIP. The adsorption of p‐HB on MIP follows the Freundlich model and displays pseudo‐second‐order kinetics. The results of selective and competitive binding experiments confirm that the molecularly imprinted sites have excellent recognition ability toward p‐HB. The results reveal that the MIP is a promising adsorbent for selective extraction of p‐HB from water samples. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 46984.