Computational design and preparation of water-compatible noncovalent imprinted microspheres.

Herein, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) was used as a model template in a rational design strategy to produce water-compatible noncovalent imprinted microspheres. The proposed approach involved computational modelling for screening functional monomers and a simple method for preparing monodisperse and highly cross-linked microspheres. The fabricated non-imprinted polymer (NIP) and 2,4-d-imprinted polymer (2,4-d-MIP) were characterised, and their adsorption capabilities in an aqueous environment were evaluated. Results reveal that the pseudo-second-order kinetics model was appropriate for representing the adsorption of 2,4-D on NIP and 2,4-d-MIP, with R values of 0.97 and 0.99, respectively. The amount of 2,4-D adsorbed on 2,4-d-MIP (97.75 mg g) was considerably higher than those of phenoxyacetic acid (35.77 mg g), chlorogenic acid (9.72 mg g), spiramycin (1.56 mg g) and tylosin (1.67 mg g). Furthermore, it exhibited strong resistance to protein adsorption in an aqueous medium. These findings confirmed the feasibility of the proposed approach, providing a reference for the development of water-compatible noncovalent imprinted polymers.