Water-compatible temperature and magnetic dual-responsive molecularly imprinted polymers for recognition and extraction of bisphenol A

• Water-compatible temperature/magnetic dual-responsive MIPs (WC-TMMIPs) were prepared.
• The water-compatibility of WC-TMMIPs were improved by grafting hydrophilic brushes.
• The WC-TMMIPs demonstrated temperature-regulated adsorption/release, and magnetic separation.
• The WC-TMMIPs proved to be effective adsorbents for seawater samples.

Versatile molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been widely applied to various sample matrices, however, molecular recognition in aqueous media is still difficult. Stimuli-responsive MIPs have received increasing attentions due to their unique feature that the molecular recognition is regulated by specific external stimuli. Herein, water-compatible temperature and magnetic dual-responsive MIPs (WC-TMMIPs) with hydrophilic brushes were prepared via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer precipitation polymerization for reversible and selective recognition and extraction of bisphenol A (BPA). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) as characterization methods were used to examine the successful synthesis of polymers, and the resultant WC-TMMIPs showed excellent thermosensitivity and simple rapid magnetic separation. Controlled adsorption and release of BPA by temperature regulation were investigated systematically, and the maximum adsorption and removal efficiency toward BPA in aqueous solutions were attained at 35 °C and 45 °C, respectively, as well as a good recoverability was exhibited with the precision less than 5% through five adsorption–desorption cycles. Phenolic structural analogs were tested and good recognition specificity for BPA was displayed. Accordingly, the WC-TMMIPs were employed as adsorbents for magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) and packed SPE of BPA from seawater samples. Using the two modes followed by HPLC-UV determination, excellent linearity was attained in the range of 0.1–14.5 μM and 1.3–125 nM, with low detection limits of 0.02 μM and 0.18 nM, respectively. Satisfactory recoveries for spiked seawater samples were achieved ranging from 86.3–103.5% and 96.2–104.3% with RSD within 2.12–4.33%. The intelligent WC-TMMIPs combining water-compatibility, molecular recognition, magnetic separation, and temperature regulation proved potentially applicable for selective identification, controlled adsorption/release and high-efficiency enrichment/removal of trace targets in complicated aqueous media.