Synthesis of Acrylamide Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Immobilized on Graphite Oxide through Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

Abstract

A novel acrylamide (AA) molecularly imprinted polymer was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) on graphite oxide (GO) particles. Propionamide (PAM) was used as a dummy template molecule, hydroxy ethyl acrylate (HEA) as a functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as a crosslinking agent, and acetonitrile as both solvent and dispersion medium. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and infrared spectroscopy (IR) confirmed that the molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) were successfully grafted onto the surface of the GO particles. The corresponding adsorption kinetic curves and adsorption isotherms showed that the AA adsorption reached equilibrium after 5 h, with large amounts of AA being adsorped in the first 100 min. The maximum AA adsorption capacity was 123.48 µmol g⁻¹ according to Scatchard analysis, which indicated that the MIP possesses good AA adsorption capacity. This MIP-GO material was used to selectively determine AA in fried food samples.

Keywords:

• Acrylamide
• ATRP
• Graphite oxide
• Molecular imprinted polymers
• Molecular recognition

Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the “973” National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2012CB720804), National research program (No. 2011BAK10B03, No. 201203069-1 / No. 201003008-08-03), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, (JUSRP21101.).