Adsorption and recognition characteristics of surface molecularly imprinted polymethacrylic acid/silica toward genistein

•A new surface imprinting technology “grafting polymerization synchronized with imprinting” is established.•By the hydrogen bond between MAA and genistein, surface-imprinted material MIP-PMAA/SiO2 is prepared with the method.•MIP-PMAA/SiO2 possesses strong adsorption affinity, specific recognition and excellent selectivity for genistein.

In this paper, on the basis of surface-initiated graft polymerization, a new surface molecular imprinting technique is established by molecular design. And molecularly imprinted polymer MIP-PMAA/SiO2 is successfully prepared with genistein as template. The adsorption and recognition characteristics of MIP-PMAA/SiO2 for genistein are studied in depth by using static method, dynamic method and competitive adsorption experiment. The experimental results show that MIP-PMAA/SiO2 possesses very strong adsorption affinity and specific recognition for genistein. The saturated adsorption capacity could reach to 0.36 mmol g−1. The selectivity coefficients relative to quercetin and rutin are 5.4 and 11.8, respectively. Besides, MIP-PMAA/SiO2 is regenerated easily and exhibits excellent reusability.