Abstract: A method of preparing surface-imprinted microspheres having a core-shell form for selective separation of heavy metal ions, includes reacting a metal salt of a heavy metal with a monomer having at least one group that reacts with the metal salt under conditions effective to prepare a metal ion-containing monomer; mixing the metal ion-containing monomer with a cross-linker monomer and a polymerization initiator in a solvent to provide a mixture; subjecting styrene to dispersion polymerization to provide polystyrene beads that serve as a core; causing absorption of dibutyl phthalate onto the polystyrene beads to provide dibutyl phthalate-containing polystyrene beads; adding the mixture to the dibutyl phthalate-containing polystyrene beads, causing absorption of the metal ion-containing monomer onto the dibutyl phthalate-containing polystyrene beads, and causing polymerization of the absorbed monomer with the cross-linker monomer to provide the surface-imprinted microspheres; and causing removal of the metal ion

Abstract: Disclosed is the preparation of a molecularly imprinted polymer for the selective separation of heavy metal ions using a core-shell polymerization method. According to the core-shell polymerization method, the molecularly imprinted polymer is prepared through two steps of preparing seed particles using styrene and divinylbenzene and forming a metal ion imprinted polymer on the surface of the seed particles. In the imprinted polymer thus prepared, an imprinted site is present on the surface of a support (e.g., polystyrene beads), thus reducing the time required to recognize heavy metal ions and obviating the use of a surfactant or a stabilizer, thereby realizing economic and environmental advantages.