Imprinted polymer particles for preconcentration of copper from water and biological samples

Imprinted polymer particles have been developed as a novel adsorbent for the adsorption of copper from aqueous solution. This method has received much attention in various fields because of their high selectivity for template molecules. In this work, separation of copper from water and biological samples by batch solid phase extraction based on molecular imprinting technique is presented. Copper-imprinted polymer was prepared by free radical solution polymerization in a glass tube containing CuSO₄, morin, 4-vinylpyridine as a functional monomer, ethyleneglycoldimethacrylate as a cross-linking monomer, 2,2′- azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator. The polymer block obtained was ground and sieved, and the Cu-morin complex was removed from polymer particles. The synthesized polymer particles both prior to and after leaching have been characterized by IR and X-ray diffraction studies. The effect of different parameters, such as pH, adsorption and desorption time, type and least amount of the eluent for elution of the complex from polymer were evaluated. The limit of detection of the proposed method was 0.12 μg L⁻¹. The method was applied to the recovery and determination of copper in water and biological real samples.