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A novel metal ion-mediated complex imprinted membrane (CIM) was prepared by immobilization of complex imprinted polymer (CIP) onto a polypropylene membrane. CIP was introduced as a novel imprinted material using a "complex template" constructed with Cu (II) ion and naproxen that could improve the selective recognition and enrichment properties of the membrane in water medium based on the coordination interaction rather than hydrogen bonding interactions, which could make CIP a promising material to mimic biological recognition process. A simple, sensitive and selective solid surface fluorescence method was proposed for the determination of naproxen in pharmaceuticals sample, using the CIM as the recognition material. Under the optimum conditions, the CIM exhibited large adsorption capacity and high selectivity to naproxen. A good linearity was obtained in the range of 0.50-20 mg/L with an estimated detection limit of 0.11 mg/L. Finally, the proposed method was applied to the analysis of naproxen in pharmaceuticals without complicated pretreatment. The recoveries were 85.0% and 89.1% and the RSDs were 9.2% and 12.0%. The results were consistent with that obtained by high performance liquid chromatography. CIM integrated extraction, concentration, and detection into one-step, which could make the analytical procedure more efficient., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An on line fiber-in-tube solid-phase microextraction (SPME) method was developed by longitudinally packing molecularly imprinted fibers (MIP-fibers) into PEEK tube as the online extraction unit. The obtained device therefore offers a reduced back pressure and rapid kinetics for its longitudinal channels, as well as possesses improved extraction capacity compared with traditional SPME method thanks to the increase of coating volume. In addition, the extraction of analytes was specific by using molecularly imprinted coatings, which greatly reduced the interference of sample matrix. To evaluate the new strategy, the PEEK tube was firstly packed with multiple ofloxacin imprinted fibers (OFL-MIP-fibers) for the analysis of four fluoroquinolones in animal-producing food samples. The extraction yields were significantly increased with the enrichment factors from 69 to 136. Sensitive results were achieved with the limits of detection as low as 0.016-0.11 μg/L (S/N=3). This method was applied successfully to analysis of fluoroquinolones in pork liver and chicken samples with good repeatability (RSDs less than 7.2%). To expand the method, the PEEK tube was then filling with two different fibers imprinted by ofloxacin and sulfamethazine respectively in order to obtain simultaneous extraction of these two categories of antibiotic drugs. Preliminary results showed the hybrid packing strategy could simultaneously enrich the target analytes from complicated samples. The possibility of applying the method to pork liver sample spiked with fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides was also studied., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A novel sample preparation technique termed dynamic liquid-liquid-solid microextraction (DLLSME) was developed and on-line coupled to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for direct extraction, desorption, and analysis of trace estrogens in complex samples. The DLLSME consists of the aqueous donor phase, the organic medium phase and the molecularly imprinted polymer filaments (MIPFs) as solid acceptor phase. The organic solvent with lesser density was directly added on top of the aqueous sample, and the dynamic extraction was performed by circulating the organic solvent through the MIPFs inserted into a PEEK tube which served as an extraction and desorption chamber. Afterwards, the extracted analytes on the MIPFs were on-line desorbed and then introduced into the HPLC for analysis. To evaluate the feasibility of the on-line system, a new DLLSME-HPLC method was developed for the analysis of five estrogens in aqueous samples by using 17β-estradiol MIPFs as the solid phase. Under the optimized conditions, the enrichment factors of 51-70, limits of detection of 0.08-0.25 μg/L and precision within 4.5-6.9% were achieved. Furthermore, the proposed method was applied to the analysis of real samples including urine, milk and skin toner, satisfactory recovery (81.9-99.8%) and reproducibility (4.1-7.9%) were obtained. Especially, 0.59 μg/L of 17β-estradiol was determined in female urine sample. The DLLSME offers an attractive alternative for direct analysis of trace analytes in aqueous samples and could potentially be extended to other adsorptive materials., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this paper, an efficient and sensitive analytical method for the simultaneous determination of three trace sterols including ergosterol, stigmasterol and β-sitosterol in complicated biological samples was developed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) coupled with extraction using novel β-sitosterol magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (mag-MIP) beads. Physical tests suggested that β-sitosterol mag-MIP beads prepared by a rapid microwave synthesis method possessed the porous morphology, narrow size distribution, stable chemical and thermal property. Due to the greatly enlarging surface area and the strong recognition to the target molecules, β-sitosterol mag-MIP beads have a higher enrichment factor for β-sitosterol (∼20-fold) and the higher selectivity for β-sitosterol and its analogs than that of β-sitosterol magnetic nonimprinted polymer (mag-NIP) beads. Under the optimum analytical conditions, all the target compounds achieved good chromatographic separation and sensitive detection without matrix interference. It was interesting that three target sterols were actually found in mushroom samples, and stigmasterol and β-sitosterol were actually found in serum and watermelon samples. The recoveries of spiked sample tests were in range of 71.6-88.2% with RSDs of 2.4-10.0% (n=3). This method is reliable and applicable for the simultaneous determination of trace sterols in real biological samples based on the β-sitosterol mag-MIP bead extraction., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A novel sulfamethazine molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-coated stir bar for sorptive extraction of eight sulfa drugs from biological samples was prepared. The MIP-coating was about 20 μm thickness with the relative standard deviation (RSD) of 6.7% (n=10). It was characterized by scanning electron microscope, infrared spectrum, thermogravimetric analysis, and solvent-resistant investigation, respectively. The non-imprinted polymer (NIP)-coating was used for comparison. The adsorptive capacity and selectivity of MIP-coating were evaluated in detail. The MIP-coating showed higher adsorption capability and selectivity than the NIP-coating. The saturated adsorption amount of the MIP-coating was 4.6 times over that of the NIP-coating in toluene. Sulfamethazine could be detected after the MIP-coated stir bar sorptive extraction even at a low concentration of 0.2 μg/L. The MIP-coating also exhibited selective adsorption ability to analogues of the template. A method for the determination of eight sulfa drugs in biological samples by MIP coated stir bar sorptive extraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed. The extraction conditions, including extraction solvent, extraction time, desorption solvent, desorption time and stirring speed, were optimized. The linear ranges were 1.0-100 μg/L and 2.0-100 μg/L for eight sulfonamides, respectively. The detection limits were within the range of 0.20-0.72 μg/L. The method was successfully applied to simultaneous multi-residue analysis of eight sulfonamides in spiked pork, liver and chicken samples with the satisfactory recoveries., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A novel sample preparation method for auxin analysis in plant samples was developed by vacuum microwave-assisted extraction (VMAE) followed by molecularly imprinted clean-up procedure. The method was based on two steps. In the first one, conventional solvent extraction was replaced by VMAE for extraction of auxins from plant tissues. This step provided efficient extraction of 3-indole acetic acid (IAA) from plant with dramatically decreased extraction time, furthermore prevented auxins from degradation by creating a reduced oxygen environment under vacuum condition. In the second step, the raw extract of VMAE was further subjected to a clean-up procedure by magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) beads. Owing to the high molecular recognition ability of the magnetic MIP beads for IAA and 3-indole-butyric acid (IBA), the two target auxins in plants can be selectively enriched and the interfering substance can be eliminated by dealing with a magnetic separation procedure. Both the VMAE and the molecularly imprinted clean-up conditions were investigated. The proposed sample preparation method was coupled with high-performance liquid chromatogram and fluorescence detection for determination of IAA and IBA in peas and rice. The detection limits obtained for IAA and IBA were 0.47 and 1.6 ng/mL and the relative standard deviation were 2.3% and 2.1%, respectively. The IAA contents in pea seeds, pea embryo, pea roots and rice seeds were determined. The recoveries were ranged from 70.0% to 85.6%. The proposed method was also applied to investigate the developmental profiles of IAA concentration in pea seeds and rice seeds during seed germination.

Auxin is a crucial phytohormone for precise control of growth and development of plants. Due to its low concentration in plant tissues which are rich in interfering substances, the accurate determination of auxins remains a challenge. In this paper, a new strategy for isolation and enrichment of auxins from plant tissues was obtained by the magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (mag-MIP) beads, which were prepared by microwave heating initiated suspension polymerization using indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) as template. In order to obtain higher selective recognition cavities, an enhanced imprinting method based on binary functional monomers, 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), was adopted for IAA imprinting. The morphological and magnetic characteristics of the mag-MIP beads were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry. A majority of resultant beads were within the size range of 80-150μm. Porous surface morphology and good magnetic property were observed. Furthermore, the mag-MIP beads fabricated with 4-VP and β-CD as binary functional monomers exhibited improved recognition ability to IAA, as compared with the mag-MIP beads prepared with the individual monomer separately. Competitive rebinding experiment results revealed that the mag-MIP beads exhibited a higher specific recognition for the template than the non-imprinted polymer (mag-NIP) beads. An extraction method by mag-MIP beads coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for determination of IAA and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) in plant tissues. Linear ranges for IAA and IBA were in the range of 7.00-100.0μgL(-1) and 10.0-100.0μgL(-1), and the detection limits were 3.9 and 7.4μgL(-1), respectively. The analytical performance was also estimated by seedlings or immature embryos samples from three different plant tissues, pea, rice and wheat. Recoveries were in the range of 70.1-93.5%. The results show that the present imprinting method is a promising approach for preparation of selective adsorbents for sample preparation of auxin analysis in plant tissues., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A novel stir bar coated with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as selective extraction phase for sorptive extraction of triazine herbicides was developed. The stir bar was prepared by chemically bonding the MIP to the glass bar to improve its stability. A homogeneous and porous structure was observed on the stir bar surface. Extraction performance shows that the MIP-coated stir bar has stronger affinity to the template molecule terbuthylazine as compared with that of the reference stir bar without addition of template. Owning to the shape and structural compatibility, the obtained stir bar also demonstrated specific selectivity to the structural related-compounds of nine triazines, and thus can be applied to simultaneous determination of these compounds from complex samples coupled with high performance liquid chromatography. Four complex samples with different matrix, including rice, apple, lettuce and soil were used to evaluate this proposed method. The limits of detection obtained are in the range of 0.04-0.12 microg L(-1), and the recoveries for the spiked rice, apple, lettuce and soil samples were 80.8-107.7%, 80.6-107.8%, 72.0-109.8% and 89.0-114.8% with RSD from 1.2 to 7.9%, respectively. Moreover, this MIP-coated stir bar was firm, durable and can be prepared simply and reproducibly. The developed coating method would be useful to prepare a range of selective stir bars in order to extend the applicability of stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) in complex sample analysis., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ractopamine, as an alternative beta-agonist to clenbuterol, is more and more used as leanness-enhancing agent in the swine industry. This work presents a new molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) using ractopamine as template for dispersive solid-phase extraction of trace ractopamine and the structural related beta-agonists in animal tissues. The binding properties and selectivity of MIP were investigated. High selectivity in polar environment was found, since the extraction capacity of ractopamine with the MIP was 4.5-fold as much as that with the non-imprinted polymer in acetonitrile. Cross-selectivity investigation indicates that the MIP preferentially binds the template and then the structural analogues according to their molecular similarity. Thermodynamic and kinetic investigation was performed to interpret the specific adsorption and molecular recognition of the MIP for ractopamine. Standard free energy, standard enthalpy, and standard entropy were determined. Related information suggested that adsorption of ractopamine onto MIP was an exothermic, spontaneous process. The MIP can be applied as dispersive solid-phase extraction material for enrichment of ractopamine, isoxsuprine, fenoterol and clenbuterol in complex samples before HPLC analysis. The method revealed detection limits of 0.20-0.90 microg/L, recoveries of 83.8-115.2 and 85.2-110.2% for the spiked pig muscle and pig liver, respectively, with the RSD from 2.5 to 8.8%.

In this paper, a novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) coated stir bar with ractopamine as template by glass capillary filling with magnetic core as substrate was prepared reproducibly. The ractopamine MIP coating was homogeneous and porous with the average thickness of 20.6 microm. The extraction apparatus for the stir bar was improved to avoid coating loss. The MIP-coated stir bar showed better extraction capacity and good selectivity than that of non-imprinted polymer (NIP) coated stir bar to ractopamine and its analogues. The extraction capacities of ractopamine, isoxsuprine, clenbuterol and fenoterol for MIP-coated stir bar were 3.3, 3.1, 2.8 and 2.4 times as much as that of the NIP coated stir bar, respectively. The MIP-coated stir bars could be used at least 40 times without apparent damage and kept in dried air for 8 months without reduce of extraction ability. A method for the determination of beta(2)-agonists in complex samples by MIP-coated stir bar sorptive extraction coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed. The linear ranges were 0.5-40 microg/L for ractopamine and 1.0-40 microg/L for isoxsuprine and clenbuterol. The detection limits were within the range of 0.10-0.21 microg/L. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of beta(2)-agonists in spiked pork, liver and feed samples with the recoveries of 83.7-92.3%, 80.5-90.2% and 73.6-86.2%, respectively. The RSDs was within 2.9-8.1%. The method is very suitable for the determination of trace beta(2)-agonists in pork, liver and feed samples., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The combination of molecular imprinting and solid-phase microextraction (SPME) technique provides a powerful sample preparation tool in terms of selectivity, simplicity, and flexibility. This paper reports a novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) coated SPME fiber with 17beta-estradiol as template by improved multiple co-polymerization method. The obtained fiber exhibits excellent characteristics such as high porosity, good thermal and chemical stability. Extraction performance shows that the MIP-coated fiber has stronger affinity to the template molecule as compared with the commercial SPME fibers and the control polymer-coated fiber without addition of template. Owing to the shape and structural compatibility, the obtained fiber also demonstrated specific selectivity to the structural related compounds of 17beta-estradiol, such as estriol, estrone and 17 alpha-ethynylestradiol, and thus can be applied to simultaneous determination of these estrogens from complex samples coupled with high performance liquid chromatography. The variables that influence extraction were investigated. The MIP-coated fiber demonstrated its efficiency for extraction of estrogens in fishery samples. The detection limits were in the range of 0.98-2.39 microg L(-1), and the recoveries were 80.0-83.6% and 85.0-94.1% for fish and shrimp tissue samples, respectively., (Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An improved multiple co-polymerization technique was developed to prepare a novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-coated solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber with propranolol as template. Investigation was performed for the characteristics and application of the fibers. The MIP coating was highly crosslinked and porous with the average thickness of only 25.0 microm. Consequently, the adsorption and desorption of beta-blockers within the MIP coating could be achieved quickly. The specific selectivity was discovered with the MIP-coated fibers to propranolol and its structural analogues such as atenolol, pindolol, and alprenolol. In contrast, only non-specific adsorption could be shown with the non-imprinted polymer (NIP)-coated fibers, and the extraction efficiencies of propranolol and pindolol with the MIP-coated fibers were higher markedly than that with the commercial SPME fibers. A MIP-coated SPME coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for propranolol and pindolol determination was developed under the optimized extraction conditions. Linear ranges for propranolol and pindolol were 20-1000 microg L(-1) and detection limits were 3.8 and 6.9 microg L(-1), respectively. Propranolol and pindolol in the spiked human urine and plasma samples, extracted with organic solvent firstly, could be simultaneous monitored with satisfactory recoveries through this method.

Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) is widely used in many fields because of its characteristics of high selectivity, chemical stability and easy preparation. To enhance the selectivity and applicability of solid-phase microextraction (SPME), a novel MIP-coated SPME fiber was firstly prepared by multiple co-polymerization method with tetracycline as template. It could be coupled directly to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and used for trace analysis of tetracyclines (TCs) in complicated samples. The characteristics and application of the fibers were investigated. The electron microscope provided a crosslinked and porous surface, and the average thickness of the MIP coating was 19.5 microm. Compared with the non-imprinted polymer (NIP) coated fibers, the special selectivity to tetracycline and structure-similar oxytetracycline, doxycycline, chlortetracycline were discovered with the MIP-coated fibers. The adsorption and desorption of TCs with the MIP-coated fiber could be achieved quickly. A method for the fluorimetric determination of four TCs by the MIP-coated SPME coupled with HPLC was developed. The optimized extraction conditions such as extraction solvent, desorption solvent, and stirring speed were studied. Linear ranges for the four TCs were 5.00-200 microg/L and detection limits were within the range of 1.0-2.3 microg/L. The method was applied to simultaneous multi-residue analysis of four TCs in the spiked chicken feed, chicken muscle, and milk samples with the satisfactory recoveries.

Molecularly-imprinted polymers (MIPs), possessing tailor-made recognition sites, can specifically rebind to a target molecule in preference to analogous compounds. Molecular-imprinting technology is a powerful tool in the development of highly selective analytical methods. MIPs are especially good candidates as adsorbents for sample preparation, due to their high selectivity and their ability to pre-concentrate the analytes from a complex sample matrix. In this article, we review and discuss the recent applications of MIPs to sample preparation. We briefly discuss the principle and the synthesis of MIPs. We critically evaluate novel applications of MIPs in different formats, including solid-phase extraction, solid-phase microextraction, stir-bar sorptive extraction, and magnetic beads. We especially highlight new formats and microextraction methods. We then discuss the problems and the future expected trends in these research areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Novel magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) beads using ractopamine as template for use in extraction was developed by microwave heating initiated suspension polymerization. Microwave heating, as an alternative heating source, significantly accelerate the polymerization process. By incorporating magnetic iron oxide, superparamagnetic composite MIP beads with average diameter of 80μm were obtained. The imprinted beads were then characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and vibrating sample magnetometer. Highly cross-linked porous surface and good magnetic property were observed. The adsorption isotherm modeling was performed by fitting the data to Freundlich isotherm model. The binding sites measured were 3.24μmolg−1 and 1.17μmolg−1 for the magnetic MIP beads and the corresponding non-imprinted magnetic beads, respectively. Cross-selectivity experiments showed the recognition ability of the magnetic MIP beads to analytes is relative to degree of molecular analogy to the template. Finally, this magnetic MIP bead was successfully used for enrichment of ractopamine, isoxsuprine and fenoterol from ultrasonically extracted solution of pork and pig liver followed by high performance chromatography with fluorescence detection. The proposed method presented good linearity and the detection limits was 0.52–1.04ngmL−1.The recoveries were from 82.0% to 90.0% and from 80.4% to 86.8% for the spiked pork and pig liver, respectively, with the RSDs of 5.8–10.0%. Combination of the specific adsorption property of the MIP material and the magnetic separation provided a powerful analytical tool of simplicity, flexibility, and selectivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, a novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) coated stir bar with ractopamine as template by glass capillary filling with magnetic core as substrate was prepared reproducibly. The ractopamine MIP coating was homogeneous and porous with the average thickness of 20.6μm. The extraction apparatus for the stir bar was improved to avoid coating loss. The MIP-coated stir bar showed better extraction capacity and good selectivity than that of non-imprinted polymer (NIP) coated stir bar to ractopamine and its analogues. The extraction capacities of ractopamine, isoxsuprine, clenbuterol and fenoterol for MIP-coated stir bar were 3.3, 3.1, 2.8 and 2.4 times as much as that of the NIP coated stir bar, respectively. The MIP-coated stir bars could be used at least 40 times without apparent damage and kept in dried air for 8 months without reduce of extraction ability. A method for the determination of β2-agonists in complex samples by MIP-coated stir bar sorptive extraction coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed. The linear ranges were 0.5–40μg/L for ractopamine and 1.0–40μg/L for isoxsuprine and clenbuterol. The detection limits were within the range of 0.10–0.21μg/L. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of β2-agonists in spiked pork, liver and feed samples with the recoveries of 83.7–92.3%, 80.5–90.2% and 73.6–86.2%, respectively. The RSDs was within 2.9–8.1%. The method is very suitable for the determination of trace β2-agonists in pork, liver and feed samples. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]