Design of copper ion imprinted polymers based on crosslinked 4-vinylpyridine

Girija P. and Beena Mathew

Abstract

Copper ion imprinted polymers were synthesized for selective removal of Cu(II) ions from water. The polymers were prepared using template metal ion Cu(II), EGDMA and TTEGDA as crosslinkeers using AIBN as initiator. The non-imprinted polymers were also prepared without use of the copper ion. To determine the selectivity of ion imprinted polymers, competitive sorption studies were carried out and proved that ion imprinted polymers (IIP) showed good selectivity for the target metal ion and can be applied for the selective removal of copper ions from aqueous medium.