Abstract:

A series of ferrocenecarboxylic acid imprinted polymers from different functional monomers were prepared and their adsorption properties for the template were evaluated by equilibrium binding experiments. The results indicate that the imprinted polymer P1, prepared with methacrylic acid as the functional monomer, exhibited a higher selectivity for ferrocenecarboxylic acid. The specific binding capacity(ΔCP) and imprinting factor(IF) of P1 are 23.18 μmol/g and 2.33, respectively. The results of competitive binding experiments show that P1 can separate the template from its structural analogues. Scatchard analysis demonstrates that one equal class of binding sites was formed in the imprinted polymer in the studied concentration range. The dissociation constant and the apparent maximum number of the binding sites are 1.94 mmol/L and 92.33 μmol/g, respectively. The study suggests that the carboxyl of the template is the function group responsible for the formation of complementary interacting site in the polymer P1, and the double hydrogen bonds formed between the carboxyl groups of ferrocenecarboxylic acid and methacrylic acid are the main interactions in the recognition process.

Key words: molecular imprinting, Ferrocenecarboxylic acid, Methacrylic acid, molecular recognition