Cellulose-incorporated imprinted materials with amphiphilic crosslinking structure for selective adsorption of bisphenol A

The development of cost-effective and easy-operate adsorbents with tunable adsorption performance is of great importance while remains a big challenge. Herein, cellulose-incorporated imprinted material (CMC-MIPs) with solvent-regulated adsorption property was designed and synthesized using the functionalized cellulose (CMC-MA) as main cross-linker with the assistance of co-crosslinking agent divinyl benzene for selective adsorption of bisphenol A (BPA). Styrene was used as functional monomer to interact with BPA through pi-pi stacking interaction. And CMC-MA could interact with BPA by multi-hydrogen bonding to strengthen the binding interaction. Adsorption experiments demonstrated that the obtained CMC-MIPs exhibited high adsorption capacity (16.23 mg/g) and excellent selectivity (imprinting factor: 16.07) towards BPA. And CMC-MIPs can easily adsorb BPA in aqueous solution, while release most of the adsorbed BPA in organic media (i.e., methanol or ethanol), indicating excellent solvent-regulated adsorption/release property. The developed CMC-MIPs were successfully employed for selective adsorption of BPA from milk samples with satisfactory recoveries. The proposed construction strategy will offer new sights on the fabricating the cellulose-introduced imprinted materials with selective adsorption capability for target analytes.

Automated summary

This study developed a cellulose-incorporated imprinted material with solvent-regulated adsorption property for selective adsorption and release of bisphenol A. The material exhibited high adsorption capacity and excellent selectivity, and showed satisfactory performance in the selective adsorption of BPA from milk samples.