Novel imprinted nanocapsule with highly enhanced hydrolytic activity for organophosphorus pesticide degradation and elimination

The removal of organophosphorus pesticide residues is of great importance to environment treatment nowadays. In this work, we designed a novel imprinted hollow nanocapsule which could effectively eliminate organophosphorus pesticide residues remained in water environment. The shell of the methyl parathion imprinted nanocapsule was prepared based on a multi-pyridine-ligand functional monomer, N-(4-vinylbenzyl)-di(2-picolyl) amine. The obtained nanocapsule showed a high catalytic efficiency towards methyl parathion, with an initial hydrolysis rate of 3.1 x 10(-2) mM/h, 355-fold relative to the self-hydrolysis of methyl parathion. And a low Km value, 0.6 mM, was observed, indicating a good affinity of functional ligand on the nanocapsule towards methyl parathion. Additionally, the obtained hollow nanocapsule could further remove p-nitrophenol generated in the catalytic degradation system, another hazardous substance, by enriching part of p-nitrophenol in its central cavity. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.