tA highly selective magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (MMIP) with core–shell structure has beensynthesized by a sol–gel process composed of Tragacanth Gum (TG) crosslinker, Fe3O4/SiO2nanoparticles,and N-vinyl imidazole(VI) functional monomer in the presence of template Quercetin (QC). Different tech-niques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), SEM–energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM–EDS),vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to verifythe successful synthesis of MIP on the surface of Fe3O4/SiO2nanoparticles. The swelling behavior of MMIP,its recognition and selectivity for QC and structural analog, Catechin (CT), were tested and compared withmagnetic non imprinted polymer (MNIP). MMIP adsorbs the template drug quickly and equilibrium couldbe reached in 2 h. The mechanism for adsorption was found to follow the Langmuir model with the max-imum capacity of 175.43 mg g−1. The MMIP indicated excellent recognition and binding affinity towardQC, selectivity factor (ε) relative to CT was 2.16. Finally, the MMIP was evaluated as a drug delivery deviceby performing in vitro release studies in PBS.
