Co-assembly of CdTe and Fe3O4 with molecularly imprinted polymer for recognition and separation of endocrine disrupting chemicals

Abstract In this study, we present a general protocol to fabricate imprinting matrix co-loaded with CdTe quantum dots and Fe3O4 nanoparticles for the recognition of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The resultant composites were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The materials have been demonstrated to be characterized with spherical shape with a saturation magnetization value of 1.7 emu g−1. Furthermore, the rebinding experiments show that the resultant materials have greater affinity and selectivity towards p-nitrophenol (model EDCs) over structurally related compounds. We believe that the effective method proposed in this work might provide a platform to prepare magnetic and fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymers for the recognition and separation of EDCs.