Abstract: In this work, precipitation polymerization was used to prepare uniform and stable molecular imprinting polymers (MIPs) particles without post treatment. Melamine was used as a template molecule model, while methacrylic acid, divinyl benzene (DVB) or ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) and acetonitrile were used as functional monomer, cross-linker and continuous phase, respectively. The polymerization was carried out in a vacuum condition at 70 °C using benzoyl peroxide as an initiator. The obtained MIP particles demonstrated spherical shape with narrow particle size distribution. The particle size varied from micrometer-sized to sub-micrometer-sized depending on the initiator content. After purification, MIP particles represented high colloidal stability in aqueous medium.The binding efficiency of MIP using both cross-linkers (DVB and EGDMA) with melamine was approximately 20 mg/g MIP. The miscibility of all components where the functional monomer effectively pre-bound with the template molecules was the main factor for obtaining MIP particle with high binding efficiency.
Template and target information: melamine
Author keywords: Uniform MIP Particle, Melamine, precipitation polymerization, Homogeneous Nucleation