Preparation of a new nanoparticle Cd(II)-imprinted polymer and its application for selective separation of cadmium(II) ions from aqueous solutions and determination via inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry.

A new nanoparticle Cd(II) ion-imprinted polymer (IIP) has been prepared via precipitation polymerization using 2-vinylpyridine (the functional monomer), ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (the cross-linker), 2,2′-Azobisisobutyronitrile (the initiator), diphenylcarbazide (the ligand), and cadmium nitrate (the template ion). The prepared IIP was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The optimal pH value for the quantitative sorption was 6.0 and maximum sorbent capacity was 16.52 mg/g. Under the optimized conditions, the method had a linear analytical range from 1 to 50 μg/L. The detection limit, relative standard deviation, and recovery of the method were evaluated as 0.14 μg/L, 2.6% and 96–98%, respectively. The prepared IIP revealed good selectivity over a wide variety of other cations. The developed method was successfully applied for the selective extraction and determination of trace amount of cadmium ions in synthetic and real water samples and some medicinal plants by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]