The synthesis of hydrophilic molecularly imprinted polymer microspheres and their application for selective removal of bisphenol A from water

The adsorptive materials which have the function of molecular recognition are becoming important as the fast emerging environmental requirements for the analysis and repair of target contaminants present at low concentrations in aqueous matrices. Here, we demonstrate a Pickering emulsion polymerization strategy to build bisphenol A (BPA) imprinted poly(methacrylic acid) microspheres without the traditional organic surfactant. In the synthesis, the only stabilizer is silica particles derived from Stöber process. The molecularly imprinted polymer microspheres were prepared by radical polymerization in the Pickering oil/water emulsion. Both the solid stabilizers and the molecular templates were conveniently removed from the microspheres. The obtained microspheres are of regularly spherical structures and hydrophilic surfaces. The formation of molecularly imprinted sites on the microspheres was validated by the excellent recognition capability toward BPA in the rebinding and competitive binding experiments.