Required Properties for Functional Monomers to Produce a Metal Template Effect by a Surface Molecular Imprinting Technique

We investigated the properties required to design functional monomers which produce an imprint effect in prepared metal-imprinted polymers. Novel organophosphorus functional monomers were synthesized, and zinc-imprinted polymers were prepared with the functional monomers by a surface molecular imprinting technique. The competitive adsorption behavior of zinc and copper ions on the surface-imprinted polymers was examined, and the template effect was characterized. A slight structural change in the functional monomers, which interact with target metal ions (zinc ions in this study), resulted in a favorable change in metal recognition by the zinc-imprinted polymers. It was found that the presence of aromatic rings and a suitable straight alkyl chain in the functional monomer in addition to a high binding affinity to the target metals renders molecular recognition on the surface of the imprinted polymers effective.