Monodisperse hollow-shell structured molecularly imprinted polymers for photocontrolled extraction α-cyclodextrin from complex samples.

In present study, monodisperse photoresponsive hollow-shell structured molecularly imprinted polymers (PHSMIPs) were fabricated based on surface imprinting technique and first proposed for selective recognition and adsorption of α-cyclodextrin (α-CD) from complex samples. The structure and the binding properties of PHSMIPs and photoresponsive surface molecularly imprinted polymers (PSMIPs) were compared. Results showed the average diameter of PHSMIPs were about 480 nm with an approximately 40 nm shell. PHSMIPs possessed BET surface areas of 273.4 m2/g, the pore volume of 0.333 cm3/g, and average pore diameters of 4.3 nm. PHSMIPs displayed higher binding capacity, better recognition ability, and faster mass transfer rate toward α-CD than PSMIPs. Furthermore, PHSMIPs was successfully used in the separation of α-CD in real reaction solution, indicating potential application for purification and selective extraction of α-CD from complex environment.