Synthesis of Surface Imprinted Polymer Microspheres with Ultrathin Polymer Shells via Surface-Initiated Iniferter Polymerization

Abstract

A simple and effective approach was proposed to synthesize uniform surface imprinted polymer microspheres via surface-initiated iniferter polymerization. The chloromethyl groups were firstly introduced onto the surface of the polystyrene microspheres by a one-step dispersion polymerization. After that the photosensitive iniferter groups were modified by the reaction of the polystyrene microspheres surface-bound chloromethyl groups with N, N-diethyldithiocarbamate sodium. The grafting step was then carried out in a stirred solution of polystyrene microspheres containing surface-initiated iniferter in the presence of template molecules (glutathione, GSH), functional and cross-linking monomers. The synthesized surface imprinted polymer (GSH-MIP) microspheres were characterized using SEM and FT-IR. The GSH-MIP microspheres were spherical in shape, and showed homogeneous polymer layer and high encapsulation efficiency. The rebinding properties of GSH for GSH-MIP was evaluated by carrying out batch rebinding tests, the obtained GSH-MIP shows faster mass transfer and higher binding amounts rate toward template than non-imprinted polymer (NIP).