Synthesis and characterization of novel water-compatible magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer for tartrazine

Abstract

Novel water-compatible magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (MMIP) was synthesized using food color tartrazine and Fe₃O₄ as target molecule and magnetic core, respectively. Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) were surface modified by silica shell followed by silanization with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES). Finally, surface radical polymerization was carried out on the modified particles using [2-(acryloyloxy) ethyl] trim ethyl ammonium chloride (AETAC) as the functional monomer. The MMIPs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and porosity investigation using BET method. Freundlich isotherm fitted Tartrazine absorption on MMIPs with good agreement (R² > 0.9). Results showed that the core-shell structure was successfully achieved and the MMIP displayed an attractive high capacity (Q = 101 mg/g), short absorption time (about 2 minutes), good selectivity, and recovery efficiency of 88% in real beverage sample.

Keywords:

• Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer
• tartrazine
• Acid yellow 23
• surface radical polymerization
• dye removal

Acknowledgment

The authors wish to thank Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Amirkabir University of Technology for the financial and instrumental support of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Table 1. Porosity analysis by BET method.

Table 3. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm constants.