Abstract: Two p-phenylenediamine (p-PD)-imprinted polymers, P (MAA) and P (AA were synthesized using methacrylic acid (MAA) and acrylamide(AA) as functional monomer, respectively, in order to prepare Molecular recognition material with high selectivity for p-PD and explore the feasibility of methods such as molecular spectrometry and computational approach of quantum chemistry for the selection of functional monomer with high imprinting efficiency. The molecular recognition properties of the imprinted polymers were evaluated by high performance liquid chromatography. The results indicated that P(AA) exhibited no imprinting effect for p-PD, while P(MAA) can bind p-PD selectively(k' = 3.57), which showed remarkable imprinting effect (IF = 2.95), and p-PD and its analogues o-phenylenediamine and p-aminobenzoic acid can almost realize baseline separation on P(MAA) column in the mobile phase of methanol. Furthermore, we made a comparative study on the interaction of p-PD with MAA and AA by Spectroscopic techniques such as UV and fluorometry as well as HF/6-31G* computational approach. The results demonstrated that the complex of p-PD-MAA was more stable than that of p-PD-AA, which can give a good explanation for the molecular recogintion properties of P (MAA) and P (AA). The study indicated that both molecular spectrometry (UV and fluorometry) and computational approach of quantum chemistry can be employed as efficient means for the selection of efficient functional monomer. The results showed that fluorometry is sensitive and convenient for the choice of functional monomer if the template molecule is fluorescent
Template and target information: p-phenylenediamine, p-PD
Author keywords: p-Phenylenediamine, molecularly imprinted polymer, molecular recognition, Molecular spectrometry, Computational approach of quantum chemistry