Sampling 4-chlorophenol in water by DGT technique with molecularly imprinted polymer as binding agent and nylon membrane as diffusive layer

•Feasibility for sampling 4-chlorophenol by DGT technique was investigated.•A relationship between binding rate and diffusion rate in the DGT technique was deduced.•Nylon membrane as diffusion layer of the DGT technique.•Molecularly imprinted polymer as binding agent of the DGT technique.

For the first time, a diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) device using molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as the binding agent and nylon membrane (NM) as the diffusive layer (NM-MIP-DGT) has been developed for sampling 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) in water. The MIP was prepared by precipitation polymerization with methacrylic acid as monomer and ethyleneglycoldimethacrylate as cross-linker. The diffusion coefficient of 4-CP through NM was obtained to be 0.788 ± 0.040 μ cm2 s−1 by diffusion cell method. The ratio was 1.01 ± 0.05 (mean ± standard deviation) for the concentration of 4-CP sampled by NM-MIP-DGT and analyzed by HPLC method to the total concentration of 4-CP in the synthetic solution where free 4-CP species dominated. The results showed that NM-MIP-DGT could sample 4-CP in synthetic solution accurately. The performance of NM-MIP-DGT for sampling 4-CP was independent of pH in the range of 3–7 and ionic strength in the range of 0.0001–0.1 mol L−1 NaCl solution. The concentration of free form of 4-CP sampled by NM-MIP-DGT decreased with the increasing concentration of dissolved organic carbon in different water samples due to the electrostatic interaction of natural organic compounds with 4-CP. 1.8 mg L−1 of the free form of 4-CP was determined by HPLC which was sampled by NM-MIP-DGT in an intermediate untreated industrial effluent. The NM-MIP-DGT can be a potential passive tool for sampling the free form of 4-CP in water.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide