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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 Kf. 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: l‐Kynurenine is an endogenous metabolite generated by the catabolic pathway of l‐tryptophan and it could be a potential biomarker to test the efficacy of several checkpoint inhibitors that have already reached the clinical trials in the antitumor therapy. Thus, a molecularly imprinted polymer specific for the recognition of this metabolite was synthesized and used as innovative system in solid‐phase extraction technique for the specific extraction and quantification of l‐kynurenine in human urine. The off‐line system was firstly tested on l‐kynurenine standard solutions, allowing recoveries up to 97.7% (relative standard deviation = 2.2%) and then applied to fortified and deproteinated human urine samples, where a recovery of 84.1% (relative standard deviation = 3.1%) was obtained. The method was validated and it revealed a good linearity in the range of 0.157–20 μg/mL (r2 = 0.9992). The optimized procedure demonstrated a good feasibility on biological samples, allowing a ready quantification of l‐kynurenine in the human urine, where the metabolite was found at a very low concentration (0.80 μg/mL). The extraction system developed could attract attention of pharmaceutical industries for l‐kynurenine production as potential drug in the treatment of autoimmune disorders through its extraction and purification from biological matrixes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of water contaminants, which affects human and environmental health, is not trivial. It is thus paramount to find new cheap and user friendly ways to detect and remove them from the environment. Here, the synthesis of a green chitosan ( CS) based molecularly imprinted membrane for the detection and quantification of 4-nitrophenol (4- NO2Ph) in aqueous media is proposed. The concentration of 4- NO2Ph in a water solution was measured by HPLC analysis. CS as a functional polymer, 4- NO2Ph as template, 4-[(4-hydroxy)phenylazo]benzenesulfonic acid as ligand, and glutaraldehyde as crosslinker in the presence of polyethylene glycol as porogen were used. The membrane was characterized by SEM and Fourier transform IR analyses, which confirmed the CS and polyethylene glycol backbone of the membrane. Kinetic studies of the detection system were performed by using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models. Then, the binding efficiency between 195.33 µmol L−1 and 9235.55 µmol L−1 of 4- NO2Ph was evaluated, finding a maximum adsorption of 723.25 µmol 4- NO2Ph per gram of membrane consistent with the Qmax calculated from the Langmuir isotherm. The selectivity of the membrane versus three phenolic competitor molecules, sharing very similar molecular structure to 4- NO2Ph, was demonstrated. Finally, the applicability of the membrane to real-world samples was evaluated, by using drinking water spiked with 7.19 µmol L−1 of 4- NO2Ph, obtaining a removal efficiency of 70.6%. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Molecularly imprinting polymer technology is used to prepare a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for the selective recognition of indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic phytochemical associated with the anticancer activities of cruciferous vegetables. Prepolymerization study via nuclear magnetic resonance technique is done to choose the best functional monomer that establishes more interaction with the template. The prepared MIP is tested before in batch experiments and subsequently used as solid-phase extraction sorbent for the selective detection of I3C from standard solutions. In order to verify the selectivity of the MIP, the binding of structurally related compounds, such as indole-3-acetonitrile, teophylline, and tryptophan, on the polymer is investigated. The experiments indicate that the MIP is highly selective for I3C with an association constant of Ka = (1.37 ± 0.07) × 103 M−1. Standard mixture solution loaded on MIP-SPE cartridge give a recovery of 95% for I3C, while the other compounds are totally eluted during washing step. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40819. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cover image, by Maria Pia Di Bello et al., is based on the Research Article Towards a new strategy of a chitosan-based molecularly imprinted membrane for removal of 4-nitrophenol in real water samples, DOI: . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]