Synthesis and evaluation of methacrylic acid functionalized β-cyclodextrin based molecular imprinted polymer for 2,4-dichlorophenol in water samples

Two imprinted polymers have been prepared through a simple radical polymerization technique in the presence of trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate as a cross-linker and 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) as the template molecule. For this purpose, imprinted polymers were synthesized using two different functional monomers: the first one using methacrylic acid (MAA) and the other one using methacrylic acid functionalized -cyclodextrin (MAA-CD). Structural characterization was carried out using various techniques for both polymers. The main objective of this paper is to report the synthesis and characterization of both imprinted polymers besides examining the application of MIP MAA-CD polymer toward the recognition properties of 2,4-DCP. The results reveal that the highest removal for 2,4-DCP is obtained for the MIP MAA-CD and suggests that the presence of -CD plays a vital role in the binding capability of the polymer. The higher binding ability of MIP MAA-CD to 2,4-DCP can be attributed to the presence of triple interactions including inclusion complex formation between -CD and 2,4-DCP, whereas in MIP MAA only one interaction could possibly happen. MIP MAA-CD has been applied to real water samples for the analysis of phenols.