Facile Fabrication of Hollow Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Latex Particles for Dibutyl Phthalate via One-step Miniemulsion Polymerization

The meticulous design on the structure of molecularly imprinted polymers has aroused increasing concern because of their excellent recognition precision. Here, we report a straightforward miniemulsion strategy to fabricate the hollow molecularly imprinted polymers latex particles for the recognition of dibutyl phthalate. The hollow structure originated from the cross-linking reaction combined with the polymerization induced phase separation occurring within miniemulsion droplets. The morphology and internal structure of latex particles were observed with the aid of field emission scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope, respectively. The formation mechanism of hollow structure was discussed in detail. Besides, the binding property of latex particles was evaluated by the binding kinetics, binding isotherm and special recognition. The results indicate that hollow molecularly imprinted polymers latex particles exhibit remarkable binding kinetics property because of low mass transfer resistance and desirable selectivity towards dibutyl phthalate. The prepared latex particles have broad application prospects in environmental field.