Molecularly
imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared by the precipitation
polymerization process, with vitamin E as the template molecule, ethylene
glycol dimethacrylate as the cross-linker, and three different functional
monomers, respectively. Adsorption experiments were conducted to investigate
the performance of each MIP and compared to the nonimprinted polymers
(NIPs). It was found that MIPs are superior to NIPs in general, with
acrylamide-based MIP showing the best adsorption capacity of 38.8
mg·g–1 and an imprinting factor of 2.6. The
optimal imprinting ratio and cross-linking ratio to be 1:5 and 5:1,
respectively. The Freundlich equation was found superior to Langmuir
to describe the adsorption isotherm data on the MIP/NIP. The adsorption
of vitamin E on the MIP was found to be a heterogeneous process and
consists of two mechanisms, which were confirmed by the analysis of
the thermodynamic properties of the adsorption process.