Synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers by atom transfer radical polymerization for the solid‐phase extraction of phthalate esters in edible oil

Novel molecularly imprinted polymers of phthalate esters were prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization using methyl methacrylate as functional monomer, cyclohexanone as solvent, cuprous chloride as catalyst, 1‐chlorine‐1‐ethyl benzene as initiator and 2,2‐bipyridyl as cross‐linker in the mixture of methanol and water (1:1, v/v). The effect of reaction conditions such as monomer ratio and template on the adsorption properties was investigated. The optimum condition was obtained by an orthogonal experiment. The obtained polymers were characterized using scanning electron microscopy. The binding property was studied with both static and dynamic methods. Results showed that the polymers exhibited excellent recognition capacity and outstanding selectivity for ten phthalate esters. Factors affecting the extraction efficiency of the molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction were systematically investigated. An analytical method based on the molecularly imprinted coupled with gas chromatography and flame ionization detection was successfully developed for the simultaneous determination of ten phthalate esters from edible oil. The method detection limits were 0.10–0.25 μg/mL, and the recoveries of spiked samples were 82.5–101.4% with relative standard deviations of 1.24–5.37% (n = 6).     

Synthesis and characterization of molecularly imprinted polymers for selective solid-phase extraction of pseudoephedrine

Molecular imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) is a well known technique for the selective extraction and pre-concentration of analytes, are present at low levels in chemically complex materials. Herein, water-soluble, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) were prepared for solid-phase extraction of pseudoephedrine hydrochloride (PSE), which was monitored at 256 nm by the UV spectroscopy. MISPE conditions were optimized to allow the selective and determination of PSE in aqueous samples and composite materials, such as biological fluids and human urine. MIP was prepared by precipitation polymerization method, using methacrylic acid as a functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as a cross-linking agent in either acetonitrile or chloroform. The results suggest that the obtained MISPE exhibits high affinity for PSE, and the imprinted polymer demonstrates much higher efficiency than a non-imprinted polymer (NIP). The imprinting-induced extraction was confirmed by the determination of recovery values for NIP (4%) and MIP (80%) polymers, respectively. The binding capacity of the MIP for PSE was found of 47.6 mg g⁻¹.     

Towards ochratoxin A selective molecularly imprinted polymers for solid-phase extraction

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) displaying selective binding properties for the mycotoxin ochratoxin A (OTA) in polar/protic media were prepared. Crucial to the success of these efforts was the implementation of rationally designed OTA mimics as templates and a set of novel basic and neutral functional monomers, allowing the maximization of the template-functional monomer association via ion-pairing, hydrophobic and steric interactions. MIPs prepared with a 20:1:1:3 molar ratio of cross-linking agent, template mimic, basic functional monomer and hydrophobic auxiliary monomer produced polymers with superior recognition properties compared to materials generated with other stoichiometries. Chromatographic evaluation using the OTA mimics, OTA and a set of structurally closely related compounds as analytes revealed pronounced substrate selectivity of these MIPs in polar/protic media, the templates and OTA being bound with significantly higher affinities. Complementary substrate selectivities/affinities were observed in aprotic and apolar solvents. The possibility of solvent-dependent tuning of substrate selectivity/affinity and the high binding capacity recommend the developed MIPs as promising solid-phase extraction adsorbents for clean-up and pre-concentration of OTA from various biologically relevant matrices.     

Synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers via ring-opening metathesis polymerization for solid-phase extraction of bisphenol A

The use of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) prepared by ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) for bisphenol A (BPA) was reported in this article. The resulting MIPs have high imprinting and adsorption capacities, and can be used for separation and determination of BPA in environmental water samples. The successful application of ROMP in the molecular imprinting field is described here. For the first time, two cross-linkers (dicyclopentadiene and 2,5-norbornadiene) and two Grubbs catalysts (first and second generation) were investigated to compare their effects on the binding performance of MIPs. The ROMP technique is able to create the imprinted polymers within 1 h under mild conditions. Furthermore, it can provide MIPs with obvious imprinting effects towards the template, very fast template rebinding kinetics, high binding capacity and appreciable selectivity over structurally related compounds. The adsorption process for MIPs in this study can be completed within 45 min, which is much faster than that of bulk MIPs synthesized by traditional free-radical polymerization. The resulting imprinting polymer was evaluated for its use as a sorbent support in an off-line solid-phase extraction approach to recover BPA from diluted aqueous samples. The optimized extraction protocol resulted in a reliable MISPE method suitable for selective extraction and preconcentration of BPA from tap water, human urine and liquid milk samples. This article demonstrates the practical feasibility of the MIPs prepared via ROMP as solid-phase extraction materials.     

核壳结构的萘夫西林磁性分子印迹聚合物微球的制备及性能

以表面修饰双键的Fe₃O₄@SiO₂纳米颗粒为基体,以萘夫西林(nafcillin)为模板,甲基丙烯酸(MAA)为单体,乙二醇二甲基丙烯酸酯(EGDMA)为交联剂,偶氮二异丁腈(AIBN)为引发剂,采用三步升温聚合法合成了核壳结构的萘夫西林磁性分子印迹聚合物。采用傅里叶变换红外光谱仪(FT-IR)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)、X射线衍射仪(XRD)和振动样品磁强计(VSM)对制备的印迹聚合物微球进行了表征,得到的磁性印迹聚合物微球的粒径在320 nm左右,大小均匀,分散性较好,可以在外加磁场下与溶剂实现快速分离。对磁性印迹和非印迹聚合物进行了吸附性能研究,结果表明该印迹聚合物微球对模板分子具有很高的吸附容量(50.7 mg/g),特异性识别性能良好(印迹因子为2.46),有望应用于实际样品中萘夫西林残留量的富集分析。     

Synthesis of core-shell molecularly imprinted polymer microspheres by precipitation polymerization for the inline molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction of thiabendazole from citrus fruits and orange juice samples

In this work, the synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymer microspheres with narrow particle size distributions and core-shell morphology by a two-step precipitation polymerization procedure is described. Polydivinylbenzene (poly DVB-80) core particles were used as seed particles in the production of molecularly imprinted polymer shells by copolymerization of divinylbenzene-80 with methacrylic acid in the presence of thiabendazole (TBZ) and an appropriate porogen. Thereafter, polymer particles were packed into refillable stainless steel HPLC columns used in the development of an inline molecularly imprinted SPE method for the determination of TBZ in citrus fruits and orange juice samples. Under optimized chromatographic conditions, recoveries of TBZ within the range 81.1-106.4%, depending upon the sample, were obtained, with RSDs lower than 10%. This novel method permits the unequivocal determination of TBZ in the samples under study, according to the maximum residue levels allowed within Europe, in less than 20 min and without any need for a clean-up step in the analytical protocol.     

Development and application of molecularly imprinted polymers as solid-phase sorbents for erythromycin extraction

Six molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) of erythromycin (ERY) were prepared by noncovalent bulk polymerization using methacrylic acid (MAA) as the functional monomer. On the basis of binding analysis, the MIPs with 1:2 optimum ratio of template to MAA were selected for subsequent scanning electron microscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analyses, which indicated that the MIPs had more convergent porous structures than the nonimprinted polymers. The equilibrium binding experiments showed that the binding sites of MIPs were heterogeneous, with two dissociation constants of 0.005 and 0.63 mg mL⁻¹, respectively. Furthermore, the performance of the MIPs as solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbents was evaluated, and the selectivity analysis showed that the MIPs could recognize ERY with moderate cross-reactivity for other macrolides. The overall investigation of molecularly imprinted SPE for cleanup and enrichment of the ERY in pig muscle and tap water confirmed the feasibility of utilizing the MIPs obtained as specific SPE sorbents for ERY extraction in real samples. Figure Schematic diagram of the preparation and application of the erythromycin imprinted molecularly imprinted polymers Suquan Song and Aibo Wu contributed equally to this work.     

Development of andrographolide molecularly imprinted polymer for solid-phase extraction

A method employing molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as selective sorbent for solid-phase extraction (SPE) to pretreat samples was developed. The polymers were prepared by precipitation polymerization with andrographolide as template molecule. The structure of MIP was characterized and its static adsorption capacity was measured by the Scatchard equation. In comparison with C(18)-SPE and non-imprinted polymer (NIP) SPE column, MIP-SPE column displays high selectivity and good affinity for andrographolide and dehydroandrographolide for extract of herb Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Nees (APN). MIP-SPE column capacity was 11.9±0.6 μmol/g and 12.1±0.5 μmol/g for andrographolide and dehydroandrographolide, respectively and was 2-3 times higher than that of other two columns. The precision and accuracy of the method developed were satisfactory with recoveries between 96.4% and 103.8% (RSD 3.1-4.3%, n=5) and 96.0% and 104.2% (RSD 2.9-3.7%, n=5) for andrographolide and dehydroandrographolide, respectively. Various real samples were employed to confirm the feasibility of method. This developed method demonstrates the potential of molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction for rapid, selective, and effective sample pretreatment.     

Selective solid-phase extraction of dibutyl phthalate from soybean milk using molecular imprinted polymers

An analysis method is reported for dibutyl phthalate and related compounds with high selectivity and sensitivity by using the selective molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) technique. In this report, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) is employed as the template molecule, and the molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are synthesized through the bulk polymerization of methacrylic acid (MAA). The Scatchard plot suggests that the template-polymer system has two-site binding behavior with the dissociation constants of 0.5187 and 0.01898 mmol L⁻¹, respectively. The rebinding test, based on the MISPE column technique, shows the recoveries of soybean milk samples spiked with 5 phthalates are in the range of 75.8-107.5% with the relative standard deviations of 1.80-10.08%, indicating the feasibility of the prepared MIPs for phthalates extraction. Finally, the method is used to analyze the trace level of phthalates in commercial soybean milk.     

Selective solid-phase extraction of tebuconazole in biological and environmental samples using molecularly imprinted polymers

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared by precipitation polymerization using tebuconazole (TBZ) as a template. Frontal chromatography and selectivity experiments were used to determine the binding capabilities and binding specificities of different MIPs. The polymer that had the highest binding selectivity and capability was used as the solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbent for the direct extraction of TBZ from different biological and environmental samples (cabbage, pannage, shrimp, orange juice and tap water). The extraction protocol was optimized and the optimum conditions were: conditioning with 5 mL methanol:acetic acid (9:1), 5 mL methanol and 5 mL water respectively, loading with 5 mL aqueous samples, washing with 1.2 mL acetonitrile (ACN):phosphate buffer (5:5, pH3), and eluting with 3 mL methanol. The MIPs were able to selectively recognize, effectively trap and preconcentrate TBZ over a concentration range of 0.5–15 μmol/L. The intraday and interday RSDs were less than 9.7% and 8.6%, respectively. The limit of quantification was 0.1 μmol/L. Under optimum conditions, the MISPE recoveries of spiked cabbage, pannage, shrimp, orange juice and tap water were 62.3%, 75.8%, 71.6%, 89% and 93.9%, respectively. MISPE gave better HPLC separation efficiencies and higher recoveries than C18 SPE and strong cation exchange (SCX) SPE. Figure HPLC analysis of spiked pannage after MISPE (A) and after C18 SPE (B). HQ (1), E3 (2), p-NP (3), FTF (4), TBZ (5), PNZ (6), HXZ (7) Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users.     

邻苯二甲酸二（2-丙基庚）酯分子印迹固相萃取剂的制备及其应用

以邻苯二甲酸二辛酯（DOP）为虚拟模板分子,α-甲基丙烯酸（MAA）为功能单体,乙二醇二甲基丙烯酸酯（EDMA）为交联剂,采用沉淀聚合法制备了对邻苯二甲酸二（2-丙基庚）酯（DPHP）具有高选择性的分子印迹聚合物（MIP）。用紫外分光光度法探索了不同功能单体与模板分子的结合能力,与功能单体丙烯酸（AA）相比,MAA与DOP的结合能力更强,其最佳结合的物质的量比为6：1。考察MIP对DOP、DPHP、邻苯二甲酸二甲酯（DMP）、邻苯二甲酸二丁酯（DBP）的选择吸附性能,发现该聚合物对DPHP具有更高的选择吸附性。以制备的聚合物为固相萃取填料,结合HPLC分析,考察了淋洗剂与洗脱剂的种类和用量对DPHP回收率的影响。将DPHP甲醇溶液加载至萃取柱后用1 mL甲醇-水（1：9,v/v）淋洗,5 mL甲醇-乙酸（9：1,v/v）洗脱,DPHP在分子印迹固相萃取（MISPE）柱上的回收率达到96.8%,而在非印迹固相萃取（NISPE）柱上的回收率仅为52.9%。将建立的MISPE-HPLC方法应用于测定兔口服DPHP后不同时间点兔血清中DPHP的浓度,发现其血药浓度的最大值为5.88 μg/mL,达峰值时间为4 h,DPHP加标回收率为90.0%~92.0%,相对标准偏差小于5%。     

Application of molecularly imprinted polymer solid-phase extraction for salivary cotinine

A method constituted by molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) with high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) was developed for cotinine analysis in saliva samples. For this purpose, the separation was carried out with a C18 reversed-phase column at 20 °C. The mobile phase which was composed of a mixture of 09:91 (v/v) acetonitrile/phosphate buffer, pH 6.3, was delivered with isocratic flow rate at 1.4 mL min⁻¹. Employing MISPE, the best conditions were achieved with 1.5 mL of saliva plus 1.5 mL of 0.1 mol L⁻¹ of acetate buffer, pH 5.5, which were then passed through a cartridge previously conditioned with 2 mL acetonitrile, 2 mL methanol, and 2 mL of 0.1 mol L⁻¹ sodium acetate buffer, pH 5.5. The washing was carried out with 1 mL deionized water, 1 mL of 0.1 mol L⁻¹ sodium hydroxide, and 1 mL hexane; finally; the cotinine elution was carried out with 3 mL methanol/water (97.5: 2.5, v/v). Linearity ranged from 30 to 500 ng mL⁻¹ with r > 0.99. Intra-assay, interassay precision, and accuracy ranged from 3.1% to 10.1%, 5.2% to 15.9%, and 99.22% to 111.17%, respectively. The detection and quantification limits were 10 and 30 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. This investigation has provided a reliable method for routine cotinine determination in saliva, and it is an important tool for monitoring cigarette smoke exposure in smokers. The method was applied in five smokers’ samples who consumed around five to 20 cigarettes per day and the values of cotinine in saliva were from 66.7 to 316.16 ng mL⁻¹.     

分子印迹聚合物固相萃取研究进展

对最新报道的分子印迹聚合物作为固相萃取剂及其在色谱样品前处理方面的应用进行综述和展望,主要包括固相萃取、基质固相分散萃取、固相微萃取、搅拌棒吸附萃取和磁性材料萃取,同时总结了分子印迹聚合物制备技术面临的挑战和问题,提出了可能的解决方案。     

Synthesis of a molecularly imprinted polymer for the selective solid-phase extraction of chloramphenicol from honey

Solid-phase extraction (SPE) with a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as sorbent has been investigated for the clean-up of the broad-spectrum bacteriostatic antibiotic chloramphenicol (CAP) in honey samples. The MIP was prepared by using methacrylic acid (MAA) as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as cross-linker, chloroform as porogen and CAP as template molecule. The binding behaviour of the template CAP on the MIP was evaluated by high-performance liquid chromatography, and then the MIP was applied as a sorbent in SPE to selectively extract CAP from honey. It was shown that recoveries of nearly 100% of a CAP standard solution and up to 94% from spiked honey samples could be obtained after SPE.     

Quercetin molecularly imprinted polymers: Preparation, recognition characteristics and properties as sorbent for solid-phase extraction

Molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared through thermal polymerization by using quercetin as the template molecule, acrylamide (AA) as the functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as the cross-linker in the porogen of tetrahydrofuran (THF). The synthesized MIPs were identified by both Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Systematic investigations of the influences of key synthetic conditions, including functional monomers, porogens and cross-linkers, on the recognition properties of the MIPs were conducted. Scatchard analysis revealed that the homogeneous binding sites were formed in the polymers. Besides quercetin, two structurally similar compounds of rutin and catechol were employed for molecular recognition specificity tests of MIPs. It was observed that the MIPs exhibited the highest selective rebinding to quercetin. Accordingly, the MIPs were used as a solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbent for the extraction and enrichment of quercetin in cacumen platycladi samples, followed by HPLC-UV analysis. The application of MIPs with high affinity and excellent stereo-selectivity toward quercetin in SPE might offer a novel method for the enrichment and determination of flavonoid compounds in the natural products.     

环氧功能化双功能磁性分子印迹聚合物的合成及其在多糖吸附中的应用

以淀粉为模板，以3-氨基苯硼酸（APBA）和2-丙烯酰胺-2-甲基丙磺酸（AMPS）为功能单体，以过硫酸铵（APS）为引发剂，在水溶液中成功合成了一种识别多糖的双功能分子印迹聚合物（Bi-MMIPs）。采用透射电镜、扫描电镜、傅里叶变换红外光谱等考察了Bi-MMIPs的合成效果。通过吸附试验深入研究了Bi-MMIPs对淀粉的吸附和识别特性。结果表明：Bi-MMIPs成功负载了两种功能单体，且对多糖（淀粉）具有很强的吸附亲和力和特异性识别能力，饱和吸附量达到13.88 mg/g；对于葡聚糖（M_r 5000 Da和70000 Da）的选择性系数分别为2.67和3.77；此外，Bi-MMIPs的印迹因子（α）达到了3.04，且易于再生。在机理上，APBA和AMPS分别提供可逆共价键和氢键，在合成双功能单体中表现出协同效应，可以有效改善模板分子结合位点的空间排列。     

Predicting the performance of molecularly imprinted polymers: Selective extraction of caffeine by molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction

A rational design approach was taken to the planning and synthesis of a molecularly imprinted polymer capable of extracting caffeine (the template molecule) from a standard solution of caffeine and further from a food sample containing caffeine. Data from NMR titration experiments in conjunction with a molecular modelling approach was used in predicting the relative ratios of template to functional monomer and furthermore determined both the choice of solvent (porogen) and the amount used for the study. In addition the molecular modelling program yielded information regarding the thermodynamic stability of the pre-polymerisation complex. Post-polymerisation analysis of the polymer itself by analysis of the pore size distribution by BET yielded significant information regarding the nature of the size and distribution of the pores within the polymer matrix. Here is proposed a stepwise procedure for the development and testing of a molecularly imprinted polymer using a well-studied compound—caffeine as a model system. It is shown that both the physical characteristics of a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) and the analysis of the pre-polymerisation complex can yield vital information, which can predict how well a given MIP will perform.     

Selective extraction of antioxidants with molecularly imprinted polymers

Molecular imprinting technology can be used to generate specific artificial polymeric receptors, i.e., high affinity stationary phases, as already shown for peptides and many other food ingredients. In this work, polymers have been molecularly imprinted with three exemplary antioxidants, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and propyl gallate (PG). Results of chromatographic evaluations are presented, demonstrating the specificity of the imprinted polymers (MIP) compared to non-specific control polymers (CP). For a BHA imprinted polymer and the respective analyte BHA a separation factor of α=k_BHA-MIP′/k_CP′=1.12 was found, whereas for the BHT-MIP a higher selectivity was determined with α=k_BHT-MIP′/k_CP′=1.47. Using the PG selective MIP for PG as analyte a value of α=k_PG-MIP′/k_CP′=1.24 could be achieved. Furthermore, results of extraction procedures based on MIP and CP phases are presented, demonstrating for instance a higher selectivity of the BHA-MIP in comparison with its CP when using methanol or acetonitrile as analyte solvent, and of the PG-MIP when performing the extraction in acetonitrile.     

Molecularly imprinted polymers for the selective solid-phase extraction of chloramphenicol

A variety of bulk polymers for the selective separation of chloramphenicol were synthesised from 2-vinylpyridine, diethylaminoethyl methacrylate or methacrylic acid monomers. Chromatographic evaluation indicated that chloramphenicol was retained under nonpolar elution conditions (k = 58.65) through selective hydrogen bonding and ionic interactions. The retention of chloramphenicol under aqueous elution conditions (k > 100) results from nonselective hydrophobic interactions. Under nonpolar elution conditions, the functional monomer employed imparted a significant influence on the recognition properties of the corresponding polymer. After solid-phase extraction using a molecularly imprinted polymer as sorbent and either an organic or aqueous washing solvent, nearly 100% recovery from the chloramphenicol standard solution was achieved, and nearly 90% recovery could be attained from spiked honey samples. The molecularly imprinted polymer was well suited to suppress matrix effects, and provided optimal preconcentration of the target molecule (chloramphenicol) prior to chromatographic analysis.