Synthesis and properties of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers based on multiwalled carbon nanotubes for magnetic extraction of bisphenol A from water

• Vinyl and carboxyl group-modified MWNTs together with magnetic Fe3O4 were participated in the polymerization of bisphenol A magnetic-imprinted polymers.
• Bifunctional monomers of β-cyclodextrin and methacrylic acid were employed for preparation of BPA magnetic-imprinted polymers.
• The magnetic solid extraction combined with liquid chromatography was used to detect BPA in water samples successfully.

Novel magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers based on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs@MMIPs) with specific selectivity toward bisphenol A were synthesized using bisphenol A as the template molecule, methacrylic acid, and β-cyclodextrin as binary functional monomers and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the cross-linker. The MWNTs@MMIPs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, vibrating sample magnetometer, and transmission electron microscopy. Batch mode adsorption experiment was carried out to investigate the specific adsorption equilibrium and kinetics of the MWNTs@MMIPs. The MWNTs@MMIPs exhibited good affinity with a maximum adsorption capacity of 49.26 μmol g−1 and excellent selectivity toward bisphenol A. Combined with high-performance liquid chromatography analysis, the MWNTs@MMIPs were employed to extract bisphenol A in tap water, rain water, and lake water successfully with the recoveries of 89.8–95.4, 89.9–93.4, and 87.3–94.1%, respectively.