Hydrophilic magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers based on chitosan for the selective removal and rapid detection of ibuprofen in environment

In order to improve the toxicity of traditional molecularly imprinted polymers and their limited application in water environment, chitosan was introduced as a green functional monomer into molecular imprinting technology. Chitosan-based hydrophilic magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (CS-MMIPs) were prepared on the surface of Fe 3 O 4 -COOH for selective removal of IBP in water environment. The adsorption of IBP by CS-MMIPs followed the quasi-second-order kinetic model and the Freundlich isotherm model, with the maximum adsorption capacity of 123.17 mg·g −1 for IBP and an imprinting factor of 2.17. Characterization, data fitting, and parametric analysis revealed that hydrogen bonding, lewis acid-base interactions and electrostatic interactions were the primary forces between CS-MMIPs and IBP. Furthermore, CS-MMIPs were successfully used as magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) sorbents in combination with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for the detection of IBP. Under optimized MSPE conditions, a rapid and economical method for detecting IBP in aqueous environments was established, with the extraction process required only 3.5 min and recovery rates ranging from 89.46 to 106.12 %, relative standard deviations (RSD) of 1.2 % to 4.2 %, and limit of detection (LOD) of 0.08 μg·mL −1 . Therefore, CS-MMIPs demonstrate considerable potential and utility for the removal and detection of IBP.