Synthesis and application of ion-imprinted polymer for extraction and pre-concentration of iron ions in environmental water and food samples

•Novel Fe(III) ion-imprinted polymer (Fe–IIP) nanoparticles were prepared.•The proposed method is simple, selective and sensitive.•The method is suitable to the determination of iron in food and water samples.

In this work, a novel Fe(III) ion imprinted polymer as a sorbent for extraction of iron ions from different samples was synthesized. Precipitation of thermal copolymerization was used for preparation of polymeric sorbent. In this technique, methacrylic acid, ethylene glycoldimethacrylate, 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile and (DHBPT)2 {(DHBPT)2 = 3,6-bis (3,5-dimethyl-1-H-pyrzol-1-yl)-1,2-dihydro-1,2,4,5-tetrazine)} were used as monomer, cross-linker, initiator and ligand, respectively, in the presence of Fe(III) ions and ethanol as a porogenic solvent. Moreover, control polymer (NIP) particles were similarly prepared without the Fe(III) ions. XRD, FT-IR, SEM and nitrogen adsorption–desorption techniques have been used to characterization of these prepared polymeric samples. Iron ion imprinted polymer particles, abbreviated as Fe(III)–IIP, were leached with 50 mL of HCl (50% (v/v)). Absorption capacity for ion imprinted polymer was calculated about 40.41 mg·g− 1. Per-concentration of iron ion was investigated as a function of pH, weight of IIP, adsorption and desorption times, and volumes of sample. FAAS technique was used to determination of Fe(III) ion in the foods and waters samples.

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