Magnetically functionalized molecularly imprinted polymer for curcumin adsorption by experimental design

A molecularly imprinted polymer synthesis parameters for curcumin is optimized by the uniform experimental design method. The polymer is prepared by precipitation polymerization method. In this method, curcumin (CUR), N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAM) and 1-vinylimidazole (VI), azobisiobutyronitrile (AIBN) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) are used as template, functional monomers, initiator and cross-linker, respectively. The effects of synthesis parameters on the preparation of curcumin-imprinted polymer have been optimized. The effects of the six following parameters are investigated by uniform experimental design. These are the moles of functional monomers (VI, 0.1-1.0 mmol, NIPAAM, 1.0-10.0 mmol), the moles of cross-linker (EGDMA, 5.0-50.0 mmol), amount of initiator (20-100 mg), moles of template (CUR, 0.1-1.0 mmol) and the kind of porogenic solvent (acetonitrile, toluene or DMSO). Additionally, a regression model representing the adsorption capacity (Q) of CUR is developed and validated by variance analysis (ANOVA).