Cu2+-imprinted polymers (Cu(II)–IIPs) were prepared by thermal precipitation polymerization method with Cu2+ion as the template, 1,4-dihydroxyanthraquinone (AQ) as the functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as a cross-linker. In synthesis processes,The functional monomer AQ, there is only one functional groups that can selectively recognize Cu2+ ion, is set in highly cross-linked polymer net, not to form covalent-linkage with polymer net. The imprinted polymer particles were characterized by UV-visible spectra, FT-IR, scanning electron microscopy and colorimetry. The sorption and selectivity capacity of Cu(II)–IIPs for Cu2+ ion were studied．The results showed that the imprinted polymer had good affinity for Cu2+. The maximum sorption capacity was 11.4 mg/g．The sorption equilibrium time was 50 min and the optimum pH for quantitative copper retention was 7.0. Competitive sorption of Cu2+, Co2+, Zn2+, Mg2+, Ca2+ from their mixture was also studied in a batch system. The relatively selective factor of copper to other metal ions were greater than 1. The Cu(II)–IIPs could be repeatedly used with high selectivity and stability for Cu2+.This Cu(II)–IIPs has been successfully applied to the separation and determination of the trace Cu2+ in real water samples.
Green multi-functional monomer based ion imprinted polymers for selective removal of copper ions from aqueous solution