Synthesis and Characterization of Molecularly Imprinted Nanoparticle Polymers for Selective Separation of Anthracene

Abstract

Two anthracene molecularly imprinted nanoparticle polymers namely; An–MINP1 and An–MINP2, were synthesized using the precipitation polymerization method. An–MINPs were used for selective separation of anthracene from aqueous solutions. The data revealed that the maximum binding capacity of An–MINPs for anthracene were 320.8 and 374.3 mg g−1 for An–MINP1 and An–MIPN2, respectively, compared with 2.8 and 4 µg g−1 obtained by using their corresponding non-imprinted polymers NIP1 and NIP2, respectively. Under optimized conditions, An–MINPs give high selectivity and sensitivity of anthracene separation. The anthracene uptake percentage from aqueous solutions ranged from 90.3 to 99.9%.