Performance of molecularly imprinted membranes in selective recognition of 4,4'-methylendianiline in organic medium

The aim of this work was the preparation of MIMs able to remove genotoxic substances from organic solvents. In particular, the primary aniline 4,4'-methylendianiline (MDA) was chosen as target molecule and the capacity of MIMs to absorb it during filtration experiments under typical nanofiltration conditions was studied. Membranes were prepared via the phase inversion technique using coplymers of Acrylonitrile (AN) functionalised with different functional co-monomers [1, 2]. The water-phase precipiation polymerization process was used for carry out the co- polymerization of Acrylonitrile (AN) as main monomer with the following acidid monomers: Acrylic acid (AA), Itaconic acid (IA) and Methacrylic acid (MAA). The inital ratio AN/co-monomer was 90/10 wt %. Results of binding tests in IPA showed that Poly(acrylonitrile-co-acrylic acid) were competitive with those prepared using the other two copolymers and exhibited the highest specific binding capacity towards the template (2.6 µmol/gmemb.). In addition, they were selective with respect to the other primary amine aniline and 4,4'-ethylendianiline. On the contrary, Polyacrylonitrile and blank membranes, showed only a non-specific binding. References [1] T. Kobayashi, T. Nagai, et al., Molecular imprinted membranes prepared by phase inversion of polyacrylonitrile copolymers containing carboxylic acid groups, Journal of Membrane Science, 86 (1994) 47-59 [2] L. Donato, F. Tasselli, E. Drioli, Molecularly imprinted membranes with affinity properties for folic acid, Separation Science and Technology, 45 (2010) 2273-2279.