Molecularly imprinted adsorbents for positional isomer separation

2,4-Dihydroxybenzophenone (2,4-DHB) imprinted polymers were synthesized by surface imprinting technique, using allyl alcohol as the functional monomer. The polymers showed a very high selectivity for 2,4-DHB when compared with various positional isomers such as 2-HB, 2,2'-DHB, 4,4'-DHIB and 4,4'-DMB. Solvents were found to affect the selectivity as well as sorption capacity in the case of surface imprinted polymers. The selectivities decreased drastically when the imprint cavity was blocked. This validated the importance of the cavity and the rebinding interactions in governing the selectivity in the case of MIPs. The surface imprinted polymers also showed a high selectivity under non-equilibrium conditions thereby making them suitable adsorbents for industrial separations.