Highly selective separation and detection of cyromazine from seawater using graphene oxide based molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction

A novel molecularly imprinted polymer based on graphene oxide was prepared as a solid‐phase extraction adsorbent for the selective adsorption and extraction of cyromazine from seawater samples. The obtained graphene oxide molecularly imprinted polymer and non‐imprinted polymer were nanoparticles and characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The imprinted polymer showed higher adsorption capacity and better selectivity than non‐imprinted polymer, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 14.5 mg/g. The optimal washing and elution solvents for molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction procedure were 2 mL of acetonitrile/water (80:20, v/v) and methanol/acetic acid (70:30, v/v), respectively. The recoveries of cyromazine in the spiked seawater samples were in the range of 90.3–104.1%, and the relative standard deviation was <5% (n = 3) under the optimal procedure and detection conditions. The limit of detection of the proposed method was 0.7 μg/L, and the limit of quantitation was 2.3 μg/L. Moreover, the imprinted polymer could keep high adsorption capacity for cyromazine after being reused six times at least. Finally, the synthesized graphene oxide molecularly imprinted polymer was successfully used as a satisfied sorbent for high selectivity separation and detection of cyromazine from seawater coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography.     

Nanogram/mL detection of nortriptyline: Preparation of a molecularly imprinted polymer for spectrophotometric determination of nortriptyline based on multivariate optimization methods

In this work, the molecularly imprinted polymer was used as a selective sorbent in solid‐phase extraction method for the spectrophotometric determination of nortriptyline at 239 nm. Molecularly imprinted polymer was synthesized by pyrrole as a functional monomer in the presence of nortriptyline as a template. Several factors, consist of the concentration of the monomer to template ratio, amount of initiator, stirring rate, reaction time, the pH of the buffer solution, amount of sorbent, loading time, shaking rate of loading, extraction time, and shaking rate of extraction were evaluated due to their effectiveness in the preparation and extraction capability of molecularly imprinted polymer. Multivariate optimization methods, such as Plackett‐Burman and central composite designs, were employed to find and optimize the significant factors. Under the selected optimal conditions, molecularly imprinted polymer showed a linear range from 0.1 to 100 µmol/L (0.026 to 26 µg/mL) nortriptyline, a detection limit of 10.3 nmol/L (2.7 ng/mL), a highly repeatable (relative standard deviation of 3.7%) and reproducible response (relative standard deviation of 4.6%), and a good selectivity in the presence of structurally related molecules. Furthermore, molecularly imprinted polymer showed high extraction efficiency and was successfully used for the determination of nortriptyline in real samples.     

Selective solid‐phase extraction using a molecularly imprinted polymer for the analysis of patulin in apple‐based foods

The aim of this work was to evaluate the use of a molecularly imprinted polymer as a selective solid‐phase extraction sorbent for the clean‐up and pre‐concentration of patulin from apple‐based food products. Ultra high pressure liquid chromatography coupled to ultraviolet absorbance detection was used for the analysis of patulin. The molecularly imprinted polymer was applied, for the first time, to the determination of patulin in apple juice, puree and jam samples spiked within the maximum levels specified by the European Commission No. 1881/2006. High recoveries (>77%) were obtained. The method was validated and found to be linear in the range 2–100 μg/kg with correlation coefficients greater than 0.965 and repeatability relative standard deviation below 11% in all cases. Compared with dispersive solid‐phase extraction (QuEChERS method) and octadecyl sorbent, the molecularly imprinted polymer showed higher recoveries and selectivity for patulin. The application of Affinisep molecularly imprinted polymer as a selective sorbent material for detection of patulin fulfilled the method performance criteria required by the Commission Regulation No. 401/2006, demonstrating the suitability of the technique for the control of patulin at low ppb levels in different apple‐based foods such as juice, puree and jam samples.     

Determination of domoic acid in shellfish extracted by molecularly imprinted polymers

A selective sample cleanup method using molecularly imprinted polymers was developed for the separation of domoic acid (a shellfish toxin) from shellfish samples. The molecularly imprinted polymers for domoic acid was prepared by emulsion polymerization using 1,3,5‐pentanetricarboxylic acid as the template molecule, 4‐vinyl pyridine as the functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the crosslinker, and Span80/Tween‐80 (1:1 v/v) as the composite emulsifiers. The molecularly imprinted polymer showed high affinity to domoic acid with a dissociation constant of 13.5 μg/mL and apparent maximum adsorption capacity of 1249 μg/g. They were used as a selective sorbent for the detection of domoic acid from seafood samples coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography. The detection limit of 0.17 μg/g was lower than the maximum level permitted by several authorities. The mean recoveries of domoic acid from clam samples were 93.0–98.7%. It was demonstrated that the proposed method could be applied to the determination of domoic acid from shellfish samples.     

Determination of macrolide antibiotics residues in pork using molecularly imprinted dispersive solid‐phase extraction coupled with LC–MS/MS

A class‐specific macrolide molecularly imprinted polymer was synthesized by precipitation polymerization using tulathromycin as the template and methacrylic acid as the functional monomer. The polymers revealed different specific adsorption and imprinting factor for macrolides with different spatial arrangement of side chains as well as lactonic ring size. And the molecularly imprinted polymer possessed maximum adsorption capacity (54.1 mg/g) and highest imprinting factor (2.4) toward 15‐membered ring azithromycin. On the basis of molecularly imprinted polymer dispersive solid‐phase extraction, a rapid, selective, and reproducible method for simultaneous determination of seven macrolide antibiotics residues in pork was established by using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. At spiking levels of 5, 10, 25, and 100 μg/kg, average recoveries of seven macrolides ranged from 68.6 to 95.5% with intraday and interday relative standard deviations below 8%. The limits of detection and limits of quantification were 0.2–0.5 and 0.5–2.0 μg/kg, respectively.     

Computer‐assisted design and synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers for the simultaneous determination of six carbamate pesticides from environmental water

The computer‐assisted design and synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers for the simultaneous capture of six carbamate pesticides from environmental water are reported in this work. The quantum mechanical computational approach was employed to design the molecularly imprinted polymers with carbofuran as template. The interaction energies between the template molecule and different functional monomers in various solvents were calculated to assist in the selection of the functional monomer and porogen. The optimised molecularly imprinted polymer was subsequently used as a class‐selective sorbent in solid‐phase extraction for pre‐concentration and determination of carbamates from environmental water. The parameters influencing the extraction efficiency of the molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction procedure were systematically investigated to facilitate the class‐selective extraction. For the proposed method, linearity was observed over the range of 2–500 ng/mL with the correlation coefficient ranging from 0.9760 to 1.000. The limits of detection ranged from 0.2 to 1.2 ng/mL, and the limit of quantification was 4 ng/mL. These results confirm that computer‐assisted design is an effective evaluation tool for molecularly imprinted polymers synthesis, and that molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction can be applied to the simultaneous analysis of carbamates in environmental water.     

Preparation of l‐phenylalanine‐imprinted solid‐phase extraction sorbent by Pickering emulsion polymerization and the selective enrichment of l‐phenylalanine from human urine

A novel l‐ phenylalanine molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction sorbent was synthesized by the combination of Pickering emulsion polymerization and ion‐pair dummy template imprinting. Compared to other polymerization methods, the molecularly imprinted polymers thus prepared exhibit a high specific surface, large pore diameter, and appropriate particle size. The key parameters for solid‐phase extraction were optimized, and the result indicated that the molecularly imprinted polymer thus prepared exhibits a good recovery of 98.9% for l‐ phenylalanine. Under the optimized conditions of the procedure, an analytical method for l‐ phenylalanine was well established. By comparing the performance of the molecularly imprinted polymer and a commercial reverse‐phase silica gel, the obtained molecularly imprinted polymer as an solid‐phase extraction sorbent is more suitable, exhibiting high precision (relative standard deviation 3.2%, n = 4) and a low limit of detection (60.0 ± 1.9 nmol·L^?1) for the isolation of l‐ phenylalanine. Based on these results, the combination of the Pickering emulsion polymerization and ion‐pair dummy template imprinting is effective for preparing selective solid‐phase extraction sorbents for the separation of amino acids and organic acids from complex biological samples.     

Critical comparison of the on‐line and off‐line molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction of patulin coupled with liquid chromatography

Reaching trace amounts of mycotoxin contamination requires sensitive and selective analytical tools for their determination. Improving the selectivity of sample pretreatment steps covering new and modern extraction techniques is one way to achieve it. Molecularly imprinted polymers as selective sorbent for extraction undoubtedly meet these criteria. The presented work is focused on the hyphenation of on‐line molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction with a chromatography system using a column‐switching approach. Making a critical comparison with a simultaneously developed off‐line extraction procedure, evaluation of pros and cons of each method, and determining the reliability of both methods on a real sample analysis were carried out. Both high‐performance liquid chromatography methods, using off‐line extraction on molecularly imprinted polymer and an on‐line column‐switching approach, were validated, and the validation results were compared against each other. Although automation leads to significant time savings, fewer human errors, and required no handling of toxic solvents, it reached worse detection limits (15 versus 6 μg/L), worse recovery values (68.3–123.5 versus 81.2–109.9%), and worse efficiency throughout the entire clean‐up process in comparison with the off‐line extraction method. The difficulties encountered, the compromises made during the optimization of on‐line coupling and their critical evaluation are presented in detail.     

Isolation of aristolochic acid I from herbal plant using molecular imprinted polymer composited ionic liquid‐based zeolitic imidazolate framework‐67

Aristolochic acid I is a toxic compound found in the genus of Aristolochia plants, which are commonly used as herbal cough treatment medicines. To remove the aristolochic acid I in extract efficiently and selectively, a molecularly imprinted polymer composed of ethylimidazole ionic liquid‐based zeolitic imidazolate framework‐67 was synthesized and used as the adsorbent. Under the conditions optimized by the software design expert, the sorbent showed highest adsorption amount of 34.25 mg/g in methanol/water (95:5, v/v) at 39°C for 138 min. The sorbent was then applied to solid phase extraction to isolate aristolochic acid I from the extract of the herbal plant Fibraurea Recisa Pierre. 0.043 mg/g of aristolochic acid I was obtained after the loading, washing, and elution processes. The limit of detection of 2.41 × 10^?5 mg/mL and good recoveries provided evidence for the accuracy of this method.     

Molecularly imprinted polymer as a novel solid‐phase microextraction coating for the selective enrichment of trace imidazolinones in rice,peanut, and soil

The development and application of an imazethapyr molecularly imprinted polymer‐based solid‐phase microextraction coating were investigated. A novel molecularly imprinted polymer coating with imazethapyr as template was firstly prepared by a one‐step in situ polymerization method, and demonstrated specific selectivity to imidazolinone herbicides in complicated samples. The structural characteristics and extraction performance of the imazethapyr molecularly imprinted polymer coating were studied. The molecularly imprinted polymer coating was homogeneous, dense, and heat and solvent resistant. Adsorption capacity experiments showed that the molecularly imprinted polymer coating could selectively extract imazethapyr and its structural analogs, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 2.5 times as much as that of the nonimprinted polymer coating. A method for the determination of five imidazolinones by imazethapyr molecularly imprinted polymer solid‐phase microextraction coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography was developed. The linear range was 0.50–50 μg/L for imazameth, imazamox, imazapyr acid, and imazethapyr, and 1.0–100 μg/L for imazaquin acid, and the detection limits were within the range of 0.070–0.29 μg/L. The method was applied to simultaneous and multiresidual determinations of trace imidazolinones in rice, peanut, and soil samples with satisfactory recoveries of 60.6–99.5, 79.1–123, and 61.3–116%, respectively, and relative standard deviations of 0.40–10%, which indicated that this method was suitable for the trace analysis of imidazolinones in complex food and environmental samples.     

Synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymer adsorbents for solid‐phase extraction of strobilurin fungicides from agricultural products

Molecularly imprinted polymers for strobilurin fungicides were prepared by precipitation polymerization employing azoxystrobin as template molecular together with methacrylic acid monomer and trimethylolpropane triacrylate cross‐linker. Morphological characterization showed molecularly imprinted polymers were uniform spherical particles with about 0.2 μm in diameter, while the morphologies of nonimprinted polymers were irregular bulk. The equilibrium binding and selective experiments proved that molecularly imprinted polymers possessed a higher affinity toward four fungicides compared to nonimprinted polymers and heterogeneous binding sites were found in the molecularly imprinted polymers. Molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction conditions, including sample loading solvents, selective washing, and elution solvents, were carefully optimized. The developed method showed good recoveries (70.0–114.0%) with relative standard deviations in range of 1.0–9.8% (n  =  3) for samples (cucumber and peach) spiked at three different levels (10, 50, and 100 μg/ kg). The detection limit (signal/noise = 3) ranged from 0.01 to 0.08 μg/kg. The results demonstrated good potential use of this convenient and highly efficient method for determining trace strobilurin fungicides in agricultural products.     

Response surface methodology approach for the preparation of a molecularly imprinted polymer for solid‐phase extraction of fenoxycarb pesticide in mussels

The aim of this work was to develop an efficient method for the selective extraction and analysis of fenoxycarb, a carbamate pesticide, in mussel samples using a molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction device. The optimization of molecularly imprinted polymer synthesis was performed using the experimental design under the response surface methodology approach. A fast rebinding study and Freundlich isotherm adsorption were carried out to calculate binding capacity B, site number n, and affinity constant K_f. The optimum molecularly imprinted polymer was successfully used as sorbent of a solid‐phase extraction cartridge for the determination of fenoxycarb in real mussel samples. The range of linearity was 0.3–30 mg/L with a correlation coefficient of 0.991. The limit of detection was 0.247 mg/kg. The recovery of fenoxycarb extracted from mussel samples of Mediterranean sea was 97% (n = 3) with relative standard deviation between 6 and 7% proving the reliability of the developed method.     

Preparation of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer for dispersive solid‐phase extraction of valsartan and its determination by high‐performance liquid chromatography: Box‐Behnken design

In this work, core/shell magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles were synthesized for extraction and pre‐concentration of valsartan from different samples and then it was measured with high‐performance liquid chromatography. For preparation of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles, Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles were coated with tetraethyl orthosilicate and then functionalized with 3‐(trimethoxysilyl) propyl methacrylate. In the next step, molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles were synthesized under reflux and distillation conditions via polymerization of methacrylic acid, valsartan (as a template), azobisisobutyronitrile and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross linking. The properties of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticle were investigated by FTIR spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and X‐ray diffraction. Box‐Behnken design with the aid of desirability function was used for optimizing the effect of variables such as the amounts of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles, time of sonication, pH, and volume of methanol on the extraction percentage of valsartan. According to the obtained results, the affecting variables extraction condition were set as 10 mg of adsorbent, 16 min for sonication, pH = 5.5 and 0.6 mL methanol. The obtained linear response (r² > 0.995) was in the range of 0.005–10 µg/mL with detection limit 0.0012 µg/mLand extraction recovery was in the range of 92–95% with standard deviation less than 6% (n = 3).     

Simultaneous determination of quinoxaline‐1,4‐dioxides in feeds using molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction coupled with HPLC

A simple, selective, and reproducible molecularly imprinted SPE coupled with HPLC method was developed for monitoring quinoxaline‐1,4‐dioxides in feeds. Molecularly imprinted polymers were synthesized in methanol using mequindox (MEQ) as template molecule and acrylamide as functional monomer by bulk polymerization. Under the optimum SPE conditions, the novel polymer sorbents can selectively extract and enrich carbadox, MEQ, quinocetone, and cyadox from a variety of feeds. The molecularly imprinted SPE cartridge was better than nonimprinted, C₁₈, and HLB cartridges in terms of both recovery and precision. Mean recoveries of four quinoxaline‐1,4‐dioxides from six kinds of feeds spiked at 1.0, 10, and 100 mg/kg ranged between 75.2 and 94.7% with RSDs of less than 10%. The decision limits (CCαs) and the detection capabilities (CCβs) of four analytes were 0.15–0.20 mg/kg and 0.44–0.56 mg/kg, respectively. The class selectivity of the polymers was evaluated by checking three drugs with different molecular structures to that of MEQ.     

Analysis of tetracyclines from milk powder by molecularly imprinted solid‐phase dispersion based on a metal–organic framework followed by ultra high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

A novel molecularly imprinted polymer that could selectively recognize tetracyclines in milk powder was synthesized using a metal–organic framework as a support material, tetracycline as template molecule, and 3‐aminophenylboronic acid as a functional monomer and a cross‐linking agent. The novel molecularly imprinted polymer was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray diffractometry, thermogravimetric analysis, and N₂ adsorption/desorption measurements. The adsorption isotherms, adsorption kinetics, adsorption thermodynamics, and selective adsorption experiments of the novel molecularly imprinted polymer to tetracycline were also studied. The novel molecularly imprinted polymer was used as dispersant of matrix solid‐phase dispersion to extraction tetracyclines. After that, the tetracyclines extracted from milk powder were determined by ultra high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limits of tetracyclines were 0.217–0.318 ng/g. The relative standard deviations of intra‐ and interday precision ranged from 3.8 to 6.9% and from 2.8 to 7.4%, respectively. In all three concentration levels (1.0, 10, 50 ng/g), the recoveries of tetracyclines ranged from 84.7 to 93.9%. The method was successfully applied to the determination of tetracyclines in milk powder.     

Microextraction by packed sorbent liquid chromatography with time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry of triazines employing a molecularly imprinted polymer†

Molecularly imprinted polymers for the determination of triazines were synthesized by precipitation using atrazine as template, methacrylic acid as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinker, and 2,2′‐azobisisobutrynitrile as initiator. The polymers were characterized by infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy and packed in a device for microextraction by packed sorbent aiming for the preconcentration/cleanup of herbicides, such as atrazine, simazine, simetryn, ametryn, and terbutryn in corn samples. Liquid chromatography coupled with time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry was used for the separation and determination of the herbicides. The selectivity coefficient of molecularly imprinted polymers was compared with that of nonimprinted polymer for the binary mixtures of atrazine/propanil and atrazine/picloram, and the values obtained were 15.6 and 2.96, respectively. The analytical curve ranged from 10 to 80 μg/kg (r = 0.989) and the limits of detection and quantification in the corn matrices were 3.3 and 10 μg/kg, respectively. Intra‐ and interday precisions were < 14.8% and accuracy was better than 90.9% for all herbicides. Polymer synthesis was successfully applied to the cleanup and preconcentration of triazines from fortified corn samples with 91.1–109.1% of recovery.     

Rapid determination of antiviral medication ribavirin in different feedstuffs using a novel magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography

A novel magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer adsorbing material was successfully synthesized to detect ribavirin in animal feedstuff. Molecularly imprinted polymer was prepared through surface polymerization by using ribavirin as template molecule, methyl methacrylate, and γ‐methacryloxypropyl trimethoxy silane functionalized magnetic mesoporous silica as bifunctional monomers, and ethylene diglycidyl ether as crosslinking agent. The prepared magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and infrared spectroscopy. Static and dynamic adsorption experiments and selective adsorption analysis were performed to evaluate the adsorption and selectivity of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer. Different experiments were conducted to optimize the magnetic solid‐phase extraction conditions. Under optimal experimental conditions, a magnetic molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography method was successfully developed for ribavirin detection. The established method achieved a satisfactory linear range of 0.20–50 mg/L (R² > 0.99) and a low detection limit (0.081 mg/kg). An average recovery of 92–105% with relative standard deviation of <6.5% was obtained upon the application of the developed method to detect ribavirin in real feedstuff samples. Thus, established method can be used for the rapid and simple separation and detection of added ribavirin in feedstuff.     

A new molecularly imprinted polymer for selective extraction and pre‐concentration of guaifenesin in different samples: Adsorption studies and kinetic modeling

This paper describes the synthesis of a molecularly imprinted polymer by chemical oxidation of pyrrole as the functional monomer, and at the presence of guaifenesin as the template. The prepared polymer was used as adsorbent in molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction followed by spectrophotometric determination. Different parameters in the solid‐phase extraction including sample pH, adsorbent weight, washing solution, and elution solvent were studied to determine optimum conditions for isolation and enrichment of guaifenesin. The results showed guaifenesin was quantitatively adsorbed on the molecularly imprinted polymer at pH 6.0 and completely eluted with an ethanol–water solution (50% v/v). An enrichment factor of four with satisfactory recoveries (87.0–95.0%) was obtained. The solid‐phase extraction columns could be used for up to six consecutive elution‐loading cycles without significant decreases in the analyte recoveries. The method had a dynamic range of 3.0 × 10^?6–1.5 × 10^?4 mol/L with a limit of detection and limit of quantification of 1.4×10^?6 and 4.5×10^?6 mol/L, respectively. The proposed procedure was used for the extraction and determination of guaifenesin in different pharmaceutical formulations, with satisfying results being achieved.     

Molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction method for the gas chromatographic analysis of organochlorine fungicides in ginseng

A highly selective molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction coupled with gas chromatography method was developed for the simultaneous isolation and determination of four organochlorine fungicides (pentachloronitrobenzene, pentachloroaniline, methylpentachlorophenyl sulfide, and hexachlorobenzene) in ginseng samples. A novel molecularly imprinted polymer with pentachloronitrobenzene as template was synthesized by precipitation polymerization employing butanone/n‐heptane (6.5:3.5, v/v) solution as porogen. The limit of detection of the method was 0.001 mg/kg, and the limit of quantification was 0.002 mg/kg. The different spiked levels of ginseng samples were 0.05, 0.5, 2.0 for pentachloronitrobenzene and pentachloroaniline, and 0.01, 0.1, 1.0 for methylpentachlorophenyl sulfide and hexachlorobenzene. The average recoveries of four organochlorine fungicides were 87.6–92.3% of pentachloronitrobenzene, 79.3–95.2% of pentachloroaniline, 80.3–90.4% of methylpentachlorophenyl sulfide, and 83.5–91.7% of hexachlorobenzene, respectively. This new method could be applied to direct determination of four organochlorine fungicides in ginseng samples.     

Zwitterionic molecularly imprinted polymer‐based solid‐phase micro‐extraction coupled with molecularly imprinted polymer sensor for ultra‐trace sensing of L‐histidine

The proposed L ‐histidine sensing system composed of a molecularly imprinted solid‐phase microextraction component combined with a molecularly imprinted polymer sensor was used to determine critical levels of test analyte in a complex matrix of highly diluted human blood serum without any non‐specific sorption and false‐positive contributions. The molecularly imprinted polymer was a zwitterionic polymer brush derived from the disodium salt of EDTA and chloranil, grafted to solid‐phase microextraction material. The hyphenated approach was able to detect L ‐histidine quantitatively with a limit of detection as low as 0.0435 ng/mL (RSD = 0.2%, S/N = 3).