Metal Ion Selectivity of Surface Templated Resins Carrying Phosphate Groups

The metal ion selective resins were prepared by surface template polymerization using monooleyl phosphoric acid (1), oleyl methyl phosphoric acid (2) or oleyl ethyl phosphoric acid (3) as an amphiphilic host surfactant. The $Cu^{2+}$-imprinted resins prepared in the presence of $Cu^{2+}$ adsorbed $Cu^{2+}$ much more effectively than did their reference resins. On the other hand, the $Cu^{2+}$-imprinted resins showed much less binding ability to $Zn^{2+}$. The template-dependent selectivity should be ascribed to a favorable placement of the surface-anchored metallophilic groups for multidentate coordination to specific metal ion.