Preparation of Core–Shell Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Polymer with Uniform Thin Polymer Layer for Adsorption of Dichlorophen

In this work, the magnetic Fe3O4imprinted polymers were prepared with the precipitation polymerization method. The polymers were used to selectively identify dichlorophen in complex environmental system. The scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy scans of magnetic Fe3O4molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) were carried out. The adsorption properties of MMIPs were examined by adsorption isotherms, kinetics, and selectivity experiments. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm well fitted the adsorption experimental data, and an increase of temperature enhanced the adsorption capacity. The equilibrium adsorption capacity of MMIPs at 318 K was 50.45 mg g–1. The data of kinetics experiments were well fitted by pseudo-second-order equation. Compared to nonimprinted polymer, the MMIPs had more specific selectivity and higher adsorption performance for chlorophene with similar structure. In addition, the regeneration experiments demonstrated that MMIPs have stable adsorption capacity for target molecules and can be quickly recovered in applied magnetic field. Therefore, our study provided an appropriate imprinted polymer material for the adsorption of dichlorophen in water.