Grafting of DI (2-Ethylhexyl) phthalate imprinted polymers on PE/PP non-woven fabrics by using ionization radiation

Molecular imprinted polymers are porous materials that are highly resistant to physical and chemical hazards, including binding sites with high selectivity towards a given target molecule. Molecular imprinted polymers have a wide range of uses such as liquid chromatography, solid phase separation, antibody mimetics (biotaxis assays and sensors), enzyme mimics, sensors, capillary electrochromatography and drug release. Phthalates are a group of organic esters known as estrogenic chemicals or endocrine disruptors. The most commonly used structures of phthalates as plasticizer di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP). A large portion of consumer products such as floor and other building materials, cosmetics and personal care products, cleaning materials, household goods, etc. include DEHP. DEHP spreads widely in air, water, and soil at very low levels, and also affects food samples, human and animal tissues. DEHP causes serious health problems for people, especially in young children, infants, pregnant and lactating mothers due to their endocrine disruption and high toxicity. The development of an easy and reliable method of analysis to reduce the effects of this compound on human health and the environment is an important issue. In this study, DEHP imprinted polymer was prepared using PE/PP nonwoven fabrics by gamma irradiation. Variations based on molecular interactions in MAA (methacrylic acid)/DEHP solutions prepared at different ratios to determine the optimum target molecule/functional monomer ratio prior to the synthesis of the molecularly printed polymers from the synthesis step were examined by UV-visible region (Varian, Cary100) spectrometry. The ratio of the functional monomer/target molecule was determined as 4:1. The DEHP printed polymer was then applied to the PE/PP nonwoven fabrics by varying amounts of crosslinking and dosing by grafting. DEHP printed polymers are characterized by different techniques. According to the SEM results, the average fiber thicknesses of PE/PP nonwoven fabrics before grafting were 9,393 μm. Fiber thicknesses were found to be 13,53 μm after 5 kGy irradiationand 15,40 μm infusion at 10 kGy irradiation. In the Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy (PALS) analyzes it was observed that the presence of DEHP caused an increase in voids in the structure. The binding properties of DEHP printed polymers were investigated against the target molecule concentration and chemically similar molecules [di-methyl phthalate (DMP), di-ethyl phthalate (DEP), di-butyl phthalate (DBP)]. The highest selectivity for DEHP of PE/PP nonwoven fabrics impregnated with DEHP printed polymers was found to be 1,95, 2,34, 1,54 times higher with the selectivity coefficients of di-methyl phthalate, di-ethyl phthalate and di-butyl phthalate, respectively.