Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences, Vol 28 No 6 (2024): 1282 - 1296

MOLECULAR RECOGNITION OF DIBUTYL PHTHALATE IMPRINTED POLYMER USING METHACRYLIC ACID (MAA) AS FUNCTIONAL MONOMER via PRECIPITATION POLYMERIZATION

(Pengecaman Molekul Polimer Tercetak Dibutil Ftalat Menggunakan Asid Metakrilik (MAA) Sebagai Monomer Berfungsi Melalui Pempolimeran Pemendakan)

Nur Adlina Mohd Zaidi¹, Faizatul Shimal Mehamod^2*, Abd Mutalib Md Jani³, Nur Asyiqin Zulkefli¹,

Ana Asyura Mohd Jamal¹, Nur Habibah Safiyah Jusoh¹

¹Faculty of Science and Marine Environment Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia

²Advanced Nano Materials (ANoMA) Research Group, Faculty of Science and Marine Environment Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia

³Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Perak Branch, Tapah Campus, 35400 Perak, Malaysia

*Corresponding author: fshimal@umt.edu.my

Received: 8 November 2023; Accepted: 4 August 2024; Published: 29 December 2024

Abstract

The extensive utilization of phthalates raises concerns regarding their impact on human and animal well-being. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the potential formation of a molecularly imprinted polymer by examining its physical characteristics and adsorption capabilities through a binding analysis. This study synthesized the dibutyl phthalate-imprinted polymer (DBP-IP) by precipitation polymerization using dibutyl phthalate (DBP), methacrylic acid, and divinylbenzene-80 as the template, functional monomer and crosslinker, respectively. The polymers were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and surface area and porosity analysis. The performance of the synthesized polymer was evaluated through a batch rebinding experiment. Therefore, the kinetic spectrophotometric method was used to describe the determination of the DBP molecule based on its adsorption effect onto the polymer. The effects of pH, concentration, and time taken were investigated to reveal the possible mechanism through the adsorption isotherm and kinetic study. The findings demonstrated that the DBP-IP has a good adsorption efficiency in acidic solutions with lower concentrations. The maximum percentage removal for DBP-IP and NIP reached 90% and 53%, respectively. Studies on adsorption showed that the DBP-IP followed the Langmuir isotherm model, whereas the NIP fit the Freundlich model. The kinetic study revealed that pseudo-second-order was the appropriate kinetic model for both DBP-IP and NIP. The imprinting factor of DBP-IP was determined by a selectivity study and showed a higher value of k_d, which proved that DBP-IP was more selective toward DBP compared to NIP.

Keywords: molecularly imprinted polymer, dibutyl phthalate, adsorption study

Abstrak

Penggunaan ftalat yang meluas menimbulkan kebimbangan mengenai kesannya terhadap kesejahteraan manusia dan haiwan. Oleh itu, kajian ini bertujuan untuk meneroka potensi pembentukan polimer molekul tercetak dengan mengkaji ciri fizikal dan keupayaan penjerapannya melalui analisis pengikatan. Kajian ini mensintesis polimer molekul tercetak-dibutil ftalat (DBP-IP) melalui pempolimeran pemendakan menggunakan dibutil ftalat (DBP-IP), asid metakrilik, dan divinilbenzena-80 masing-masing sebagai templat, monomer berfungsi dan taut-silang. Polimer telah dicirikan menggunakan spektroskopi inframerah transformasi Fourier, pengimbasan mikroskop elektron dan analisis luas permukaan dan keliangan. Prestasi polimer tersintesis telah dinilai melalui eksperimen pengikatan semula secara kelompok. Oleh itu, kaedah spektrofotometri kinetik digunakan untuk menerangkan penentuan molekul DBP berdasarkan kesan penjerapannya ke atas polimer. Kesan pH, kepekatan, dan masa yang diambil telah disiasat untuk mendedahkan mekanisme yang mungkin melalui kajian isoterma dan kinetik penjerapan. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahawa DBP-IP mempunyai kecekapan penjerapan yang baik dalam larutan berasid dengan kepekatan yang lebih rendah. Peratusan penyingkiran maksimum untuk DBP-IP dan NIP masing-masing mencapai 90% dan 53%. Kajian mengenai penjerapan menunjukkan bahawa DBP-IP mengikuti model isoterma Langmuir, manakala NIP sesuai dengan model Freundlich. Kajian kinetik menunjukkan bahawa pseudo-order kedua adalah model kinetik yang sesuai untuk kedua-dua DBP-IP dan NIP. Faktor pencetakan DBP-IP ditentukan oleh kajian selektiviti dan menunjukkan nilai k_d yang lebih tinggi, yang membuktikan bahawa DBP-IP lebih selektif terhadap DBP berbanding NIP.

Kata kunci: polimer molekul tercetak, dibutil ftalat, kajian penjerapan

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