## 4 Conclusions  
Based on the data obtained, the following conclusions can be made:  
1. The molecularly imprinted structures with silver salt as the template were synthesized with the ratio of template:monomer:monomer:cross-linker = 1:2:2:8. The obtained imprinted structures have a dark brown color due to the presence of the monomer 4-VP. MIP(DVB) has a dense structure, whereas MIP(DEGDMA) has a looser structure. 2. The structure of the MIPs is dense and heterogeneous, with molecular imprint cavities formed due to unstable bonding between the template and the monomer, likely influenced by the ionized state of silver. The average cavity sizes were 0.81 \(\pm\) 0.20 \(\upmu\)m for MIP(DEGDMA) and 0.68 \(\pm\) 0.23 \(\upmu\)m for MIP(DVB), with the difference attributed to the flexibility of DEGDMA's long-chain structure compared to DVB's rigid aromatic ring. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Parameter** & **MIP(DEGDMA)** & **MIP(DVB)** \\ \hline Desorption degree, \% & 79.85 \(\pm\) 0.09 & 78.52 \(\pm\) 0.01 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 6: Desorption degree of MIP(DEGDMA) and MIP(DVB) after 24 h.  
Figure 17: Desorption degree of the MIPs. 3. A mechanism of chemical reaction for obtaining a molecularly imprinted system with a silver template was suggested, which includes the formation of a pre-polymerization complex, the polymerization of monomers, and cross-linker around a template molecule. In the formation of a pre-polymerization complex, it is supposed that donor-acceptor bonds are formed between the pyridine group of the monomer 4-vinylpyridine and template ions, and hydrogen bonds are formed between the monomer methacrylate acid and template molecules. 4. MIP(DEGDMA) saturates faster during silver sorption in comparison with MIP(DVB), but the latter sorbs a higher concentration of silver. The average sorption degree is approximately 72% and the average sorption capacity is 3.6 g/g, which is considered to be quite a productive result for MIPs. 5. The sorption process was described using kinetic models ([PERSON] and Elovich). Both kinetic models showed identical results that correlated with the results of the sorption experiments: MIP(DEGDMA) saturates faster during silver sorption in comparison with MIP(DVB), but the latter sorbs a higher concentration of silver. 6. The desorption degree reaches nearly 80% after 24 h, indicating that the MIPs possess high desorption efficiency and may be effectively used as sorbents for silver recovery. Based on the results mentioned above, it can be concluded that the synthesized MIPs are promising as sorbents for the selective extraction of silver. Both MIPs exhibit similar sorption behavior, primarily driven by complexation with monomer units. However, minor variations arise due to structural differences in the crosslinkers. Conceptualization, L.A. and R.K.; data curation, L.A., Y.M., D.K., and R.K.; formal analysis, L.A., Y.M., D.K., and R.K.; funding acquisition, R.K.; investigation, L.A. and R.K.; methodology, L.A. and R.K.; project administration, L.A. and R.K.; resources, R.K.; supervision, L.A. and R.K.; validation, L.A., Y.M., and D.K. ; visualization, L.A. and R.K.; writing--original draft, L.A. and R.K.; writing--review and editing, L.A. and R.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research is funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, grant number AP19674527. Not applicable. The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author. The authors thank [PERSON] (Nazarbayev University, Astana, the Republic of Kazakhstan) for conducting SEM analysis of the imprinted structures. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The following abbreviations are used in this manuscript: