Syntheses of molecularly imprinted polymers and their molecular recognition study for benzotriazole

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared from methacrylic acid as the functional monomer and triallyl isocyanurate as the cross-linker in chloroform solution using benzotriazole as the template molecule and 2,2′-azobis-isobutyronitrile as the initiator. These MIPs showed a specific binding affinity toward benzotriazole and the imprinting mechanism was discussed. The effect of the polarity of the solvent on the binding capacity of MIPs was examined and the dissociation constant at binding site of MIPs, Kd = 1.45, was estimated. Release of the template was performed by continuous extraction with methanol containing 10% acetic acid. The result showed that the binding capacity of MIPs decreases with the increase of the polarity of solution.