Synthesis and properties of salicylic acid surface molecularly imprinted polymers from aqueous emulsions

The surface molecularly imprinted polymers (SMIPs) to salicylic acid (SA) were synthesized by emulsion polymerization using salicylic acid as template, acrylamide as functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinker in aqueous media. The static equilibrium adsorption experiments were carried out to investigate the selective adsorption of salicylic acid to the SMIPs. The selective binding experiments for substrates indicate that the SA-SMIPs exhibit higher affinity and selectivity for salicylic acid than for m-hydro xybenzoic acid and sulfo salicylic acid. The scatchard analysis shows that two classes of binding sites are produced in the SA-SMIPs and the equilibrium dissociation constants are calculated to be 2.03 mmol/L and 9.97 mmol/L, respectively. Further, the adsorption of SA onto SA-SMIPs surface is rather fast in the beginning.