Abstract:

Molecular imprinting polymers (MIPs) were synthesized by bulk polymerization, using capsaicin as the template
molecule and 2-vinylpyridine (2-VP) and Acrylamide (AM) as the function monomers. The specific adsorption ability of the
molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) to capsaicin was evaluated by equilibrium binding experiments, saturated adsorption
time was assessed by saturated adsorption experiments and selective adsorption ability to capsaicin analogs was appraised
by selective adsorption experiments. The results showed that MIPs exerted the best adsorption efficiency to capsaicin
when the ratio of capsaicin:2-VP:AM was 1:2:2, with a adsorption capacity of 20.46 mg/g and a recognition factor of
3.05. Morevoer saturated adsorption time was 6 h and better selective recognition to capsaicin was found. In this study, the
elution efficiencies of eluents of different polarity for specific adsorption and non-specific adsorption of capsaicin in solid
phace extraction column of MIPs were investigated. The specific adsorption was kept while the non-specific adsorption was
discharged to the greatest extent when using chloroform as the eluent.

Key words: molecular imprinting polymers, capsaicin, specific adsorption, solid phase extraction