Molecularly Imprinted Polymer (MIP) for thiamethoxam: A theoretical and experimental study

The purpose of this work was to study from Density Functional Theory calculations the molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for the thiamethoxam (TMX) insecticide. As main results, it was obtained the ideal MIP synthesis protocol as being the methacrylic acid (MAA) as the functional monomer and toluene as the solvent. After the rational design, the material was synthesized and characterized by infrared, thermogravimetric, and scanning electron microscopy analyses. Preliminary adsorption tests have shown that the MIP obtained reached a maximum of equilibrium adsorption in approximately 30 min at pH 7.0, where the insecticide is in molecular form, which favors its extraction.