Molecular imprinting polymers for the separation of toluic acid isomers

Abstract Molecular imprinting polymers (MIPs) were prepared with styrene, 4‐vinyl pyridine, and divinylbenzene for the separation of toluic acid isomers. The uptake and selectivity were investigated, with respect to how they were governed by the swelling degree of a soft MIP that contained a small amount of crosslinker. The optimum swelling range led to high uptake and the easy removal of the template without sacrificing the selectivity, which was controlled by the shape and size of the imprinting cavity under the same functional monomer, to the guest molecule. The original imprinting cavities were reversibly maintained within the range of 200% swelling and shrinking of MIPs throughout the template extraction. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 96: 650–654, 2005