This contribution reports a novel category of sustainable aldehyde-containing magnetic microspheres (ACMMs) prepared through suspension polymerization. For preparing the ACMMs, lignin-derived vanillin methacrylate (VMA) was used as biobased monomer, while methacrylatedFe3O4 NPs were used as magnetic supplier. The resulting microspheres were proved to have remarkable magnetic property and adsorption capacity toward paraanisidine, which was employed as a representative of amines. The maximum adsorption was found to be up to 433 mg/g (559 mg/g in theory). Also noticeably, the adsorption was realized by forming a reversible Schiff base under mild conditions. Desorption processes were performed conveniently, proving that the ACMMs can be easily recycled. This work demonstrates the remarkable potentials of ACMMs to be used as scavenger resins in absorbing amines. Also worthy to be highlighted is that the abundant aldehyde groups enable the microspheres to be a promising platform for further preparing functional polymers by employing the Schiff base structure as linking parts, e.g. as biomaterials for immobilizing enzymes.
