Dummy molecularly imprinted mesoporous silicates for selective adsorption of 2-naphthol

Dummy molecularly imprinted mesoporous silicates (MIMS-2) were made by co-condensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) with precursors of bi-functional mimic of 2-naphthol, 2,7-dihydroxynaphthalene, around triblock copolymer surfactant Pluronic (P123) micelles. The bi-functional template was linked to two functional monomers through thermally cleavable covalent bonds to generate imprint precursor. This provides the possibility of incorporating the target into the cross-linked mesoporous silicate matrix in the non-ionic surfactant templated sol-gel process. P123 was eluted by ethanol extraction and template molecules were removed by refluxing the materials in a mixture of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and water. MIMS-1 was prepared similarly except that 2-naphthol was used as template instead of 2,7-dihydroxynaphthalene. Solid phase extraction studies showed that MIMS-2 exhibited good retention and selectivity for 2-naphthol among its structural analogues. The mono-functional molecule 2-naphthol was unable to be incorporated into the silica matrix of mesoporous material by the identical method, and the resulting material MIMS-1 exhibits poor selectivity to the template analogues.