Selective separation of bifenthrin by pH-sensitive/magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers prepared by pickering emulsion polymerization

Via Pickering emulsion polymerization, pH-sensitive magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (HM-MIPs) were synthesized using bifenthrin (BF) as the template molecule, and pH-sensitive monomer methacrylic acid as the functional monomer. Characterizations of HM-MIPs were achieved by FTIR, TGA, TEM, SEM, and VSM, and the results indicated that HM-MIPs exhibited magnetic property (Ms=1.06 emu/g). HM-MIPs were acted as the adsorbent for a series of adsorption performance testing of BF. Equilibrium data were described by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Kinetic properties were successfully investigated by pseudo-first-order model, pseudo-second-order model. The selective recognition experiments exhibited outstanding selectively adsorption effect of the HM-MIPs for target BF over diethyl phthalate and fenvalerate. In water, the HM-MIPs could achieve the adsorption and release of BF by controlling the pH value of the aqueous solution. The results indicated that the molecularly imprinted polymers exhibited good adsorption, selectivity and pH-sensitive performance for BF.