Novel Pb2+ ion imprinted polymers based on ionic interaction via synergy of dual functional monomers for selective solid-phase extraction of Pb2+ in water samples.

A novel kind of Pb(2+) ion imprinted polymers (IIPs) was prepared based on ionic interactions via the synergy of dual functional monomers of methacrylic acid and vinyl pyridine for selective solid-phase extraction (SPE) of Pb(2+) in water samples. Suspension polymerization was employed for the formation of template Pb(2+)/monomer complex by self-assembly in the presence of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate cross-linker. The resulted Pb(2+) IIPs showed fast kinetics, high binding capacity, and the adsorption processes obeyed intraparticle diffusion kinetics and Langmuir isotherm models. The IIPs displayed excellent selectivity toward Pb(2+) over other metal ions such as Cu(2+), Cd(2+), Zn(2+), and Mn(2+) with selective coefficients above 30, as well as high anti-interference ability for Pb(2+) confronting with common coexisting various ions. Through 10 adsorption-desorption cycles, the reusable IIPs exhibited a good recoverability with the standard error within 5%. These features suggested the IIPs were ideal candidates for extraction and removal of Pb(2+) ions. Consequently, the IIPs were utilized as SPE sorbents and related parameters were optimized. An excellent linearity was presented in the range of 0.2-50 μg L(-1) (R(2) = 0.9998), as well as the limits of detection and quantification were achieved of 0.06 and 0.19 μg L(-1), respectively. A good repeatability was obtained with the relative standard deviation of 2.8%. Furthermore, real water samples were successfully analyzed and satisfactory recoveries varying from 95.5 to 104.6% were attained. The IIPs-SPE demonstrated potential application perspectives for rapid and high-effective cleanup and enrichment of trace Pb(2+) ions in complicated matrices.