Molecularly Imprinted Polymers on Functionalized Graphene for Removal of Zearalenone from Corn Oil

Zearalenone (ZEN) contamination in corn oil poses significant risks to human health and the economy. To address this issue, we developed a novel molecularly imprinted polymer based on functionalized graphene (FG) for selective ZEN removal while preserving other nutrients in corn oil. To improve the preparation efficiency of polymers, computer simulation was employed to optimize the prepolymerization system, identifying cyclododecyl 2,4-dihydroxybenzoate as the template molecule, methacrylic acid as the functional monomer, and setting the template–monomer ratio at 1:4. The modification with FG, which has a high specific surface area, significantly enhanced the adsorption capacity of the polymers. Selectivity experiments further confirmed that only the reduced graphene-oxide-modified molecularly imprinted polymer (RGOMIP) exhibited specific adsorption for ZEN with an imprinting factor of 4.85. The adsorption behaviors and mechanisms of RGOMIP in acetonitrile and water were systematically investigated. The maximum adsorption capacity of RGOMIP was 99.04 mg g–1 in water, approximately 400 times higher than that in acetonitrile. Molecular dynamics simulation and adsorption experiments demonstrated that the main forces were hydrogen bond, van der Waals force, and electrostatic interaction. When applied to remove ZEN from corn oil, RGOMIP exhibited a maximum adsorption capacity of 0.88 mg g–1. The appearance of corn oil treated with RGOMIP showed no obvious change, and the contents of vitamin E and sterol remained unchanged after testing. These results suggest that RGOMIP has great potential for application in ZEN removal from aqueous solution and even oil phase system as well as for use as an efficient enrichment and purification material for ZEN detection in grain and oil.