Abstract An innovative approach for the
selective recovery of pyrogallol by means of molecularly imprinted polymer
(MIP) was developed. Pyrogallol has been reported to be found in natural herb
plants such as Kacip Fatimah (Labisia pumila) and harmful to human when it is
consumed beyond the permissible amount. In this study, pyrogallol-imprinted
polymer (PIP) and non-imprinted polymer (NIP) were synthesized via
precipitation polymerization on methacrylic acid (MAA) with divinylbenzene
(DVB) and azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) cross-linker and initiator,
respectively. The synthesized polymers were characterized by Fourier Transform
Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and
UV-Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis). Studies on adsorption isotherm were carried
out by using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Results showed that NIP
and PIP follows Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models, respectively. In order
to analyze the sorption kinetics of NIP and PIP, two kinetic models were
applied; pseudo-first and pseudo-second order. Samples of NIP and PIP were
found to follow pseudo-second order, indicating the rate-limiting step is the
surface adsorption.
Keywords: adsorption isotherms; adsorption
kinetic; precipitation polymerization; molecularly imprinted polymer
