Metal ion mediated molecularly imprinted polymer for selective capturing antibiotics containing beta-diketone structure

A new molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) targeting to quinolones (Qs) and tetracyclines (TCs) was synthesized using itaconic acid (ITA) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) as a functional monomer and template molecule, respectively. Factors affecting the overall performance of MIP were investigated, and the results showed that Fe(3+) ion play a vital role in the formation of MIP with high molecular imprinting effect. Meanwhile, the chelating ability of monomer, species of template molecule, as well as the molar ratio of monomer and template also contribute to the performance of the obtained MIP. Cyclic voltammetry verified that, with the participation of Fe(3+) ions, a ternary complex of ITA-Fe(3+)-CIP could be formed before polymerization. Compared with conventional MIP prepared from commonly used monomer, methacrylic acid (MAA), the new MIP show significantly enhanced molecular imprinting effect and higher capacity for specific adsorption of target compounds as revealed by static and dynamic binding experiments. The MIP was successfully used as solid-phase extraction (SPE) adsorbent for enriching a broad spectrum of antibiotics containing beta-diketone structure from surface water sample. HPLC detection showed that high recovery rate (78.6-113.6%) was found in these spiked antibiotics, whereas recovery rate for the non structurally related drugs, epinephrine (EP) and dopamine (DOPA), was very low (4.7-7.6%) on the MIP cartridges. The results demonstrate that the MIP prepared by the strategy proposed in this work, could specifically target to a series of structurally related antibiotics containing beta-diketone structure.