Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for the Extraction of Methyl Yellow From Spiked Aqueous Medium

ABSTRACT Methyl yellow imprinted polymers (MY‐MIPs) were synthesized via modified precipitation polymerization approach and successfully applied for the adsorption of methyl yellow (MY) from spiked aqueous media. For the synthesis, acrylamide (Aam) was used as functional monomer while 3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and triethoxyvinylsilane (VTES) acted as cross‐linkers using acetonitrile (ACN) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) porogenic solvents. Titanium (IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) and FeSO 4 /H 2 O 2 were used as initiators. Non‐imprinted polymers (NIPs) were synthesized under identical reaction conditions to establish baseline binding behavior. FTIR, SEM, EDX, and TGA were systematically applied to evaluate structural, morphological, elemental, and thermal properties of synthesized MY‐MIPs and NIPs. BET findings confirmed the mesoporousity, with MY‐MIPs exhibiting significantly greater surface area and pore volume compared to their corresponding NIPs, thereby enhancing adsorption performance. Batch adsorption studies revealed that MY uptake by the optimized MIPs followed Pseudo‐second order kinetic model and Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Among synthesized materials, MY3‐MIP and MY6‐MIP exhibited superior adsorption performance, achieving removal efficiencies of 97.6% and 95.27%, respectively, under optimized conditions (20 ppm initial concentration, pH 7, 0.4–0.5 g dosage, and 180–210 min contact time). High imprinting factors (2.74 and 2.68) and strong selectivity toward MY over competing azo dye Congo Red (CR) confirmed the precision and effectiveness of the imprinting strategy. The adsorption capacity of both MIPs was restored to over 95% following 10 regeneration cycles, which is highly stable and reusable. These findings confirmed that each MIP is a powerful selective and effective sorbent to remove MY from river water, tap water, and other polluted aqueous systems, thus highlighting their potential to be applicable in practice during wastewater processing.