Hydroxymethyl-Functionalized Polymer Nanospheres with a Hollow Mesopore Structure for Efficient Acteoside Adsorption

In this study, hydroxymethyl (−CH 2 OH)-functionalized hollow polymer nanospheres (HPN) were prepared by a hypercross-linking self-assembly strategy for acteoside (ACT) adsorption. The prepared HPN possessed a large pore volume, robust hollow structure, and centralized distribution mesopores, achieving excellent adsorption capacity for ACT. The highest adsorption capacity was 357.99 mg/g observed for ACT. The reason can be attributed to the following three aspects: first, HPN-2 has a hollow structure with the largest pore volume, and the large pore volume is a decisive factor in improving adsorption capacity. The large pore volume provided enough space to accommodate more ACT molecules. Second, the −CH 2 OH functional groups inside and outside of HPN-2 acted as high-affinity binding sites for ACT molecules, making ACT more easily adsorbed on HPN-2. Finally, the larger mesopore on HPN-2 provides fast diffusion channels for the adsorption of ACT. Therefore, developing hydroxymethyl-functionalized hypercross-linked adsorbents with hollow mesopore structures will provide a facile and effective strategy for separating bioactive components from natural products.