In this study, a novel route was developed to fabricate polymeric magnetic microspheres as a functional and convenient material for the separation of hemoglobin by distillation precipitation polymerization. A thiazolium-modified poly(4-vinylbenzylchloride) (pVBC) shell was successfully grafted onto the surface of the magnetic microspheres. The morphology, structure and composition of the microspheres were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The experimental results showed that the as-synthesized Fe3O4@SiO2@pVBC@Thiaz magnetic microspheres exhibited a strong magnetic response along with a remarkable adsorption capacity of 5.03 mg mg−1 (due to the high thiazolium loading) and an excellent specificity (based on the covalent coordination between the iron ion in the heme group of hemoglobin and the thiazolium cation). These results demonstrated that the microspheres could have potential uses in the separation of hemoglobin.
