Characterization and quality assessment of binding properties of malachite green molecularly imprinted polymers prepared by precipitation polymerization in acetonitrile

Molecular imprinting technology was employed to produce one kind of malachite green (MG) molecularly imprinted polymers by precipitation polymerization using MG, methacrylic acid, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, azobisisobutyronitrile, and acetonitrile as template, functional monomer, cross-linker, initiator and porogen, respectively. The binding properties of MG on imprinted polymers were evaluated in acetonitrile by equilibrium rebinding experiments. Scatchard plot's analysis revealed that there was one class of binding sites populated in the imprinted polymers with an apparent maximum number of MG (2.33 μmol/g). The specificity and selectivity of the imprinted polymers were investigated by binding analysis using MG and structurally related compounds. The results indicated that the imprinted polymers showed a good selectivity and specificity for MG. So the polymers can be used to separate MG from seafood, water and other matrices.