Design of honeycomb-structured magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers for efficient adsorption and detection of chloramphenicol in environmental water

Chloramphenicol (CAP) residues pose significant risks to human health and ecosystem sustainability due to their widespread abuse and environmental persistence. This study addresses the global challenge of CAP contamination by developing innovative lightweight honeycomb-like magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (LH-MMIPs) through the synergistic combination of molecular imprinting and etching technologies. The novel nanomaterial's design features an acid-resistant epoxy resin protective layer that enables maximal carrier etching while maintaining structural integrity. By utilizing lysozyme as a monomer rich in diverse functional groups (-COOH, –OH, –NH₂, –SH, -Ph), we achieved enhanced molecular recognition capabilities through multiple interaction. The optimized LH-MMIPs exhibit excellent physical and chemical properties including uniform morphology, high crystallinity, strong magnetic responsiveness, high adsorption capacity, outstanding selectivity, and good reusability. When used as adsorbents coupled with HPLC, LH-MMIPs were successfully applied to specific enrichment and determination of CAP in environmental water. This low-cost and simple synthesis approach provides new insights for improving the adsorption capacity and selectivity of MMIPs, while also offering a novel strategy for developing efficient MMIPs for pollutant remediation in environmental water.