Novel composite membranes embedded with molecularly imprinted porous polymeric nanospheres for targeted phenol

Abstract

In the present research, novel hybrid molecularly imprinted polymer (HMIP) membranes were synthesized for selective adsorption and separation of phenol toxic molecules from aqueous solutions. Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) nanospheres for targeted phenol were successfully prepared using precipitation polymerization of methacrylic acid, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, followed by integrating into polysulfone matrix to create the HMIP membranes via a phase inversion method. The fabricated materials were characterized from the viewpoints of spectroscopic analysis, structural and surface morphological properties, porosimetry, and batch rebinding assays. The imprinted polymeric nanospheres with mean diameter value ranging from 210 to 250 nm and average pore diameter of 8 nm were obtained according to the morphological and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy pictures demonstrated that the MIP spheres were uniformly distributed on the surface and in the bulk polymer phase of the hybrid membrane. The surface roughness, porosity, and permeate flux of membrane were significantly augmented by addition of the imprinted polymer particles in the dope solution. HMIP-2 membrane containing 10 wt% of MIP showed the highest binding capacity and an excellent molecular recognition for phenol with respect to the correlative blank membrane. The selective recognition of phenol on the HMIP-2 membrane was 3.5 times larger than the analogous compound (i.e. catechol). Moreover, the maximum separation factor of phenol was obtained as 2.19 relative to catechol through selective permeation studies, which was also observed for HMIP-2 membrane.

Recent Advances in Molecularly Imprinted Membranes for Sample Treatment and Separation

“…Membrane technology was also expanded to other organic pollutants, such as herbicides [73,74], phenols (including endocrine disruptors) [75][76][77][78], aromatic hydrocarbons [79][80][81][82][83], dyes [84,85], and antibiotics [86,87], among others. Several representative examples of these applications will be described below.…”

Preparation of highly cross‐linked hydrophilic porous microspheres poly(N,N′‐methylenebisacrylamide) and poly(N,N′‐methylenebisacrylamide‐co‐acrylic acid) with an application on the removal of cadmium

“…Porous materials have attracted an increasing attention in many fields of sciences as well as industrial researches because of their potential applications, such as the gas storage and separation, adsorption of the organic substance, heterogeneous catalysts, the electrochemical power source, and the environmental treatment . During the last few decades, scientists have produced many kinds of the porous materials such as zeolites, Mobil Composition of Matter No.…”

Development of Aptamers and Aptamer-Based Materials for Agricultural Applications

“…Isoquinoline No, however a MIP for quinoline is described 212 No, however an aptamer for cocaine is described 213 No Carbazole Yes 214 N o Y e s Phenol 191 Phenol Yes [215][216][217][218][219] No, however an aptamer for BPA is described 220 No, however antibodies for chlorinated phenols are commercially available…”