Synthesis, characterization, and application of molecular imprinting polymer for extraction of melamine from spiked milk, water, and blood serum

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Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) of melamine (MEL) were synthesized by non-covalent approach with precipitation polymerization. In this research, MEL was used as the template molecule, acrylamide (AAm) as the functional monomer, divinylbenzene (DVB) as the cross-linker, 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator, and the mixture of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and acetonitrile (ACN) was used as a reaction medium. The imprinted and non-imprinted polymer particles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The rebinding efficiency was evaluated for all the synthesized polymers by batch binding analysis. The adsorption studies such as adsorbent dosage of polymer, initial concentrations, and pH of MEL solution were successfully conducted on the selected polymer. For selectivity test, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP) was selected as competitive molecule against the MEL. A good removal efficiency of MEL from different samples such as milk (81.97%), river water (91.52%), and human blood serum (90.66%) was achieved.