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).