Abstract: In this study, the suspension polymerization in mineral oil method using formaldehyde as the template molecule, 4-vinyl pyridine (4-VP) as the functional monomer and ethylene dimethacrylate (EDMA) as the cross-linker for the preparation of high selective molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) beads was described. The prepared beads were spherical and regular with effective recognition sites compared to irregular shaped particles prepared by bulk polymerization. A needle trap extraction (NTE) device was prepared using the MIP beads as adsorption medium, and the device could be coupled with gas chromatography (GC) for the analysis of trace formaldehyde. A series of parameters concerning the effect of polymerization conditions on adsorption property have been evaluated. The results demonstrated that the best adsorption performance of the MIP beads was achieved under the optimized conditions with the reagents ratio (template molecule:functional monomer:cross-linker) of 1:4:20, pre-polymerization time of 3 h, the pre-polymerization solution to mineral oil ratio of 1:6.5, and polymerization time of 8 h. The method using a combination of molecular imprinting and NTE technique would possibly provide a new way for the development of novel sample preparation techniques.
Template and target information: formaldehyde
Author keywords: molecularly imprinted polymer, spherical beads, Needle trap extraction, gas chromatography, formaldehyde

Tweet