Molecularly imprinted polymer particles: Formation, characterization and application

Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) particles offer many advantages as recognition objects. Therefore, we examined thoroughly the effect of various experimental parameters including cross-linker concentration, nature of solvent, type of template and its concentration, reaction volume and temperature on the formation of particulate MIPs using precipitation polymerization. The particles were characterized by various methods, such as XHR-SEM, HR-TEM and BET. Statistical calculations were carried out using ImageJ software over population of at least 200 particles in each experiment. The reproducibility of MIP synthesis was examined and the SD was better than 10%. MIP particles were imprinted with different Sudan dye derivatives (Sudan II, III, IV and Sudan orange G). Raman and FTIR spectroscopies were used to prove the successful imprinting. Reuptake measurements were carefully compared between non-imprinted molecularly polymer (NIP) and MIP particles employing the same quantity and similar diameter and polydispersity of NIP and MIP, as never reported before. The results showed that MIP particles imprinted by Sudan IV showed higher selectivity toward this specific dye as compared with MIPs imprinted by other Sudan dyes and NIPs.