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Abstract With the rapid development of nanotechnology, new types of fluorescent nanomaterials (FNMs) have been springing up in the past two decades. The nanometer scale endows FNMs with unique optical properties which play a critical role in their applications in bioimaging and fluorescence-dependent detections. However, since low selectivity as well as low photoluminescence efficiency of fluorescent nanomaterials hinders their applications in imaging and detection to some extent, scientists are still in search of synthesizing new FNMs with better properties. In this review, a variety of fluorescent nanoparticles are summarized including semiconductor quantum dots, carbon dots, carbon nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, graphene-based nanomaterials, noble metal nanoparticles, silica nanoparticles, phosphors and organic frameworks. We highlight the recent advances of the latest developments in the synthesis of FNMs and their applications in the biomedical field in recent years. Furthermore, the main theories, methods, and limitations of the synthesis and applications of FNMs have been reviewed and discussed. In addition, challenges in synthesis and biomedical applications are systematically summarized as well. The future directions and perspectives of FNMs in clinical applications are also presented.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) affects over 200 million girls and women. Its health complications include acute and potentially lifelong urogenital, reproductive, physical, mental health complications with estimated health treatment costs of US$1.4 billion per year. Moreover, there is a concerning rise in the trend of FGM medicalisation with almost one in five FGM cases being performed by a health worker.The WHO developed several evidence-based resources to apply a comprehensive health approach to strengthen FGM prevention and care services. However, there has been limited uptake of this comprehensive approach in FGM prevalent settings. To address this, a three-step multicountry participatory process was used to engage health sector players from FGM prevalent settings to develop comprehensive action plans, implement foundational activities and harness the learnings to inform subsequent planning and implementation. Support to adapt evidence-based resources and seed funding were also provided to initiate foundational activities that had potential for scale up.A total of 15 countries participated in this three-step this approach between 2018 and 2022. Ten countries developed comprehensive national action plans and eight WHO resources were adapted for foundational activities.This scale up approach can be strengthened by increasing the frequency of multicountry experience sharing meetings, identifying in-country champions to continuously advocate for FGM integration within (public and private) health services and securing stable funding to implement foundational activities. Documentation of each country’s experience as case studies including monitoring and evaluation are essential to expand the learning and quality of the health interventions addressing FGM.

This study had two main thematic aims: first, to determine the factors that influenced the choice of international students at China Pharmaceutical University (CPU) to consider China as a study destination; second, to determine the career preferences of international students upon completion of their various programs of study. As a cross-sectional study, relevant data were collected from undergraduate pharmacy students and postgraduates using a self-administered questionnaire. On the whole, the five most important pull factors that influenced the choice of China as the study destination for the respondents were: (1) quality of education, (2) quality of academic staff, (3) security, (4) desire to obtain a certificate from a foreign country and (5) availability of scholarship opportunities. With respect to the career choices, the top three career preferences of the international students were: (1) to work in the pharmaceutical industry (i.e., pharmaceutical manufacturing companies), (2) to practice clinical pharmacy and (3) to seek employment opportunities outside their countries. This study provides additional details on why China has gradually become a study destination of choice for international students. The career preferences of students could be useful in the design of academic programs that could meet their job aspirations.

High interference and narrow application range are key of bottleneck of recent fluorescence analysis methods, which limit their wide application in the sensing field. Therefore, to overcome these disadvantages, a ratiometric fluorescence sensing system utilizing berberine (BER) and silver nanoclusters protected by dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA-AgNCs) was constructed for the first time in this work, to achieve determination of BER and daunorubicin (Dau). BER aqueous solution (non-planar conformation) has no fluorescence emission. When it was mixed with DHLA-AgNCs, the conformation of BER became planar, producing fluorescence emission at 515 nm besides the fluorescence emission peak of DHLA-AgNCs at 653 nm. With the increase of BER concentration added in system, the fluorescence intensity of BER (planar conformation) at 515 nm increased obviously and the fluorescence intensity of DHLA-AgNCs decreased slightly. Therefore, the dual emission fluorescence sensing system was constructed based on a fluorescence substance and non fluorescence substance, to achieve determination of BER. Meanwhile, based on the bridging effect of BER and fluorescence resonance energy transfer effect from Dau, the altering of two peaks intensity was utilized to achieve determination of Dau. Thus, this dual emission sensing system can not only be used for fluorescence analysis of BER and its analogues, but also based on the bridging effect of BER, allowing the determination of Dau and its analogues that could not be directly measured with silver nanoclusters, expanding the application range of traditional dual emission detection systems. Meanwhile, this system has strong anti-interference ability and low toxicity to the human body and less pollution to the sample and environment. This provides a new direction and universal research strategy for the construction of new fluorescence sensing systems in the future for the analysis of target substances that cannot be directly detected with conventional fluorescence analysis methods., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An innovative and simple nanocomposite denoted as MHNTs@PEI was synthesized for gallic acid (GA) analytical sample pretreatment. Polyethyleneimine (PEI) functionalized was binded onto magnetic halloysite nanotubes (MHNTs) to inhence adsorption capacity. MHNTs@PEI was obtained only through two steps modification (amination and PEI modification). Characterizations showed that there are layers of synthetic PEI on the tubular structure of the material and magnetic spheres on its surface, both indicating successful synthesis of the nanocomposite. Furthermore, the adsorption isotherms and kinetic modeling showed that the Langmuir model and pseudo-first-order model fit the adsorption data, respectively. MHNTs@PEI achieved an adsorption capacity of 158 mg·g -1 . Overall, the abundant adsorption sites significantly improved the adsorption performance of the MHNTs@PEI. Regeneration tests demonstrated that the MHNTs@PEI exhibits effective adsorption, even after undergoing five consecutive cycles. Optimization of key parameters (ratio, volume of elution, elution time and frequency) in the process of adsorption and desorption was also conducted. The limit of detection (LOD) and that of the quantification (LOQ) were 0.19 and 0.63 μg·mL -1 , respectively, and the recoveries were 95.67-99.43 %. Finally, the excellent magnetism (43.5 emu·g -1 ) and the adsorption feature of MHNTs@PEI enabled its successful utilization in analytical sample pretreatment through the extraction of GA from green tea., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Nanozymes, made of emerging nanomaterials, have similar activity to natural enzyme and exhibit promising applications in in the fields of environment, biology and medicine, and food safety science. In recent years, with the deep finding and research to nanozymes by researchers, its application in field of pharmaceutical analysis has emerged gradually, possessing great significance in drug safety evaluation and quality control. This review summarizes the construction of metal nanozymes, strategies to improve their performance and their application in pharmaceutical detection and analysis, especially in detection of target analytes consisting of small molecule medicine macromolecule, toxic and others, which proposes theoretical foundation for development of nanozymes in this field. At the same time, it also provides opportunities and challenges for the construction and application of new nanozymes.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have had tremendous impact on biomimetic recognition due to their precise specificity and high affinity comparable to that of antibodies, which has shown the great advantages of easy preparation, good stability and low cost. The combination of MIPs with other analytical technologies can not only achieve rapid extraction and sensitive detection of target compounds, improving the level of analysis, but also achieve precise targeted delivery, in-vivo imaging and other applications. Among them, the recognition mechanism plays a vital role in chemical and biological sensing, while the improvement of the recognition element, such as the addition of new nanomaterials, can greatly improve the analytical performance of the sensor, especially in terms of selectivity. Currently, due to the need for rapid diagnosis and improved sensing properties (such as selectivity, stability, and cost-effectiveness), researchers are investigating new recognition elements and their combinations to improve the recognition capabilities of chemical sensing and bio-sensing. Therefore, this review mainly discusses the design strategies of optical sensors, electrochemical sensors and photoelectric sensors with molecular imprinting technology and their applications in environmental systems, food fields, drug detection and biology including bacteria and viruses., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Nanozymes have advantages over natural enzymes in terms of efficiency, stability, and economy. MVSM (Mixed Valence State MOF) is a nano-oxidase with uricase-like activity that may catalyze uric acid (UA) in the body into allantoin and H 2 O 2 to treat gout and hyperuricemia by substituting natural uricase. However, it cannot specifically identify and choose UA. To increase the selectivity and affinity of MVSM for UA, the composite material MVSM@MIP is innovatively synthesized using a new synthetic approach termed the "two-step synthesis method," which may prevent UA from being oxidized by MVSM during manufacture in this study. At the same time, this study also provides experimental proof of the effective creation of the material, the advantages of the "two-step synthesis approach," and the high selectivity and affinity of MVSM@MIP for UA. Based on these findings, the suggested technique may be used to effectively catalyze uric acid in human urine with high activity., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

This study had two main thematic aims: first, to determine the factors that influenced the choice of international students at China Pharmaceutical University (CPU) to consider China as a study destination; second, to determine the career preferences of international students upon completion of their various programs of study. As a cross-sectional study, relevant data were collected from undergraduate pharmacy students and postgraduates using a self-administered questionnaire. On the whole, the five most important pull factors that influenced the choice of China as the study destination for the respondents were: (1) quality of education, (2) quality of academic staff, (3) security, (4) desire to obtain a certificate from a foreign country and (5) availability of scholarship opportunities. With respect to the career choices, the top three career preferences of the international students were: (1) to work in the pharmaceutical industry (i.e., pharmaceutical manufacturing companies), (2) to practice clinical pharmacy and (3) to seek employment opportunities outside their countries. This study provides additional details on why China has gradually become a study destination of choice for international students. The career preferences of students could be useful in the design of academic programs that could meet their job aspirations.

In this work, with the attempt to further improve the selectivity, magnetism and loading proportion of existing adsorbents, a novel composite (MGO/MHNTs@MIPs) was synthesized by electrostatically combining molecularly imprinted polymer based on the surface of magnetic halloysite nanotubes (MHNTs@MIPs) with magnetic graphene oxide (MGO). Then some characterizations were done to prove its successful synthesis. Besides, the bonding experiment showed that it possessed a loading capacity of up to 132 mg·g -1 , and the adsorption behavior of MGO/MHNTs@MIPs was elucidated by Langmuir isotherm model and Pseudo-second order model. By comparing its adsorption capacity to analogues, we concluded that the MGO/MHNTs@MIPs with the MHNTs@MIPs as basic elements exhibited higher selectivity (imprinting factor = 2.25) than that of MGO/MHNTs@NIPs based on MHNTs@NIPs for template rutin. Furthermore, a series of solid phase extraction conditions were optimized, and then the materials were used for the extraction and detection of rutin in fruit juice under the optimal conditions., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Compound structure change of the template molecule from rutin samples might affect the selectivity and adsorption of molecularly imprinted polymers based on magnetic halloysite nanotubes (MHNTs@MIPs). In the present study, not only MHNTs@MIPs were successfully characterized by TEM, SEM, EDS, FT-IR, TGA and VSM, but related compounds and potential degradation factors of template molecule rutin were also investigated in the polymerization and elution process of MHNTs@MIPs by high-performance liquid chromatography together with photodiode array and tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-PDA-MS/MS) in negative ion mode. Nine flavonol components were detected in rutin active pharmaceutical ingredient samples, such as rutin, isoquercetrin, kaempferol-3-O-rutoside, isorhamnetin-3-O-rutoside, quercetin, kaempferol, isorhamnetin and two unknown triglycosides. Under acidic, basic, oxidative and solvent conditions, two common degradants with negative ESI-MS ions at m/z 317 and 349 were found. Meanwhile, protocatechuic acid and methyl ester were also observed as two characteristic oxidative degradants. Compared to above degradation results, rutin-dimethylsulfoxide adduct and oxidative degradant were observed in the synthesis supernatant, which demonstrated that appropriate solvents and strict control of the oxygen level were critical in the synthesis process. Therefore, degradation studies provide a solid foundation for the optimization of MHNT@MIP synthesis with rutin as a template, which can be potentially applied to other templates for further material performance investigation., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A novel bionic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (BELISA) based on double-antibody sandwich method is firstly designed for the detection of carbamazepine (CBZ) in human serum samples. In this BELISA system, cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) is employed as an artificial capture antibody (cAb), and molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) is used as an artificial detection antibody (dAb). Nanozymes (PdNPs) as signal generators are integrated with MIPs. This couple of bionic antibodies exhibits not only the excellent physical and chemical stability, but also the superior molecular recognition ability. Based on two bionic antibodies that can selectively recognize different sites of CBZ molecule, a new BELISA method has been constructed for the first time. The proposed BELISA method displays a good linear relationship ranging from 2 to 20 μg mL -1 . The detection limit is 0.37 μg mL -1 , which can well meet clinical testing demand. It provides a more stable and economical method for clinical therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Molecular imprinted polymers coated magnetic halloysite nanotubes (MHNTs-MIPs) were prepared through sol-gel method by using quercetin (Que), APTES and TEOS as template, monomer and cross-linker agent, respectively. The synthesized MHNTs-MIPs were characterized by fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, XRD and vibrating sample magnetometer. Various parameters influencing the binding capacity of the MHNTs-MIPs were investigated with the help of response surface methodology. Selectivity experiments showed that the MHNTs-MIPs exhibited the maximum selective rebinding to Que. Therefore, the MHNTs-MIPs was applied as a solid-phase extraction adsorbent for the extraction and preconcentration of quercetin and luteolin in serum and urine samples. The limits of detection for quercetin and luteolin range from 0.51 to 1.32 ng mL-1 in serum and from 0.23 to 1.05 ng mL-1 in urine, the recoveries are between 95.20 and 103.73% with the RSD less than 5.77%. While the recovery hardly decreased after several cycles. The designed MHNTs-MIP with high affinity, sensitivity and maximum selectivity toward Que in SPE might recommend a novel method for the extraction of flavonoids in other samples like natural products., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Herein, through the interfacial regulation of cucurbiturils (CBs) on Fe 3 O 4 -Au nanoparticles, a novel multifunctional platform is constructed for the sensitive detection of Cd 2+ and the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of nitrocompounds. The reported surface modification strategy provides an efficient approach to prepare a new platform for multiple purposes.

In this work, quercetin (Que) molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) material decorated on magnetic graphene oxide (MGO) with high performance was prepared for the first time using a surface-imprinting technique. Magnetic graphene oxide was synthesized using the solvothermal route. Methacrylic acid (MAA) was used as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethyl acrylate (EGDMA) as cross-linker; Que. was used as template, for the decoration with MIP. The prepared nanocomposite was examined by different characterization methods including fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The adsorption performance was investigated. MGO-MIP was found to have high loading (369 mg g -1 ) and selective capacity making the nanomaterial more performant than previous similar reported nanomaterials. The determination of Que. was carried out by mean of magnetic solid phase extraction method coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the extraction conditions studies were also performed out. Under the optimized conditions, MGO-MIP showed great performance for the extraction, separation and determination of Que. in green tea and serum samples, compared to the flavonoid analogs luteolin (Lut) and rutin (Rut) in the same matrix samples., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

With the intent of enhancing the loading capacity and controlled the release of a low-water soluble drug (quercetin), 6 ar ms (Poly-Ethylene-Glycol)-amine was grafted in the external surface of halloysite nanotubes. The grafted halloysite nanotubes (HNTs-g-PEG) were decorated with carbon quantum dots for additive fluorescents properties. Conjointly, biotin was conjugated to PEG's free amine groups for precise targeting of tumor tissue and higher cellular uptake. The obtained nanoparticles were characterized by the FTIR, TEM, XRD, zeta potential and TGA analysis. The photoluminescence (PL) properties were investigated by firstly, observing under UV-light at 365 nm; then, the fluorescence spectra of modified HNTs at different levels of preparation were obtained and showed a suitable blue fluorescence. Furthermore, the fluorescent properties were demonstrated by the optical image of HNTs-g-PEG-CDs-Biotin obtained from the confocal microscope, which could be interesting for both in vitro and in vivo imaging. Besides, the prepared NPs showed a superior loading capacity of Que (278.36 mg/g) at optimal adsorption conditions comparing to pristine HNTs. The in vitro drug release from these NPs was relatively sustained and pH sensitive. The incubation of the prepared HNTs-g-PEG-CDs-Biotin NPs with HeLa cells showed a low toxicity and a suitable biocompatibility. The MTT assay of the Que-loaded NPs possesses enhanced antitumor activity over the free Que., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this research, to achieve enhanced intracellular uptake of anticancer drug carriers for efficient chemotherapy, folic acid conjugated chitosan oligosaccharides assembled magnetic halloysite nanotubes (FA-COS/MHNTs) have been tailored as multitask drug delivery system towards camptothecin (CPT). Besides magnetic targeting, the nanocomposites have been reacted with folate complex in order to selectively target cancer cells over expressing the folic acid receptor. HNTs showed to have a high storage capacity of CPT. In vitro, the release results indicated that CPT outflow from the nanocarriers at pH 5 was much greater than that at both pH 6.8 and 7.4. MTT assays showed that the CPT-loaded nanocarriers exhibited stronger cell growth inhibitory against colon cancer cell. Furthermore, nanocarriers gained specificity to target cancer cells because of the enhanced cell uptake mediated by FA moiety and presence of COS. Therefore, the rational designed HNTs nanocarrier for chemotherapy drug showed great potential as tumor-targeted drug delivery carrier., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This article describes the development, optimization, and evaluation of a novel composite imprinted polymer, on the basis of magnetic halloysite nanotubes (MHNTs-MIPs) using "Quality by Design (QbD)" approach combining computer simulation and response surface methodology. Norfloxacin, methacrylic acid, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate were used as template, functional monomer and cross-linker, respectively. As a comparison, two MHNTs-MIPs have been prepared with the most suitable functional monomer methacrylic acid (MAA) along with acrylamide (AM). To explain the adsorption behavior, adsorption kinetics and isotherms were studied. Magnetic halloysite nanotubes molecularly imprinted polymers prepared from MAA (MHNTs-MIP 1 ) displayed a high adsorption capacity (349 µg mg -1 ) toward NOR. A magnetic imprinting solid phase extraction method coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (MHNTs-MISPE-HPLC-UV) was developed for the determination of NOR in serum and water samples, by applying MHNTs-MIP as a sorbent. The recoveries from 83.76% to 103.30% in water and from 90.46% to 99.78% in serum were obtained. Besides remarquable mechanical properties and specific recognition of MHNTs-MIP toward template molecule. It could be also collected and separated fastly by external magnetic field. Moreover, MHNTs-MIPs could be reused for several cycles with the recovery range from 83.25% to 100.96% for water sample and from 85.65% to 100.33% for serum sample. These analytical results of serum and water samples showed that the proposed method based on MHNTs-MIPs is applicable for fast and selective extraction of therapeutic agents from biological fluids and environmental water., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this research, novel polymer grafted-magnetic halloysite nanotubes with norfloxacin loaded (NOR-MHNTs) and controlled-release, was achieved by surface-initiated precipitation polymerization. The magnetic halloysite nanotubes exhibited better adsorption of NOR (72.10mgg -1 ) compared with the pristine HNTs (30.80mgg -1 ). Various parameters influencing the drug adsorption of the MHNTs for NOR were studied. Polymer grafted NOR-MHNTs has been designed using flexible docking in computer simulation to choose optimal monomers. NOR-MHNTs/poly (methacrylic acid or acrylamide-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) nanocomposite were synthesized using NOR-MHNTs, methacrylic acid (MAA) or acrylamide (AM), ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) and AIBN as nanotemplate, monomers, cross linker and initiator, respectively. The magnetic nanocomposites were characterized by FTIR, TEM, XRD and VSM. The magnetic nanocomposites show superparamagnetic property and fast magnetic response (12.09emug -1 ). The copolymerization of monomers and cross linker led to a better sustained release of norfloxacin (>60h) due to the strong interaction formed between monomers and this cationic drug. The cumulative release rate of NOR is closely related to the cross linker amount. In conclusion, combining the advantages of the high adsorption capacity and magnetic proprieties of this biocompatible clay nanotube and the advantages of polymer shell in the enhancement of controlled-sustained release of cationic drug, a novel formulation for the sustained-controlled release of bioactive agents is developed and may have considerable potential application in targeting drug delivery system., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

In the present work, a novel amphiphilic magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (M-MIP) has been synthesized by a simple non covalent method for the loading of gatifloxacin (GTFX) in polar solvent. This nanomaterial used as sorbent has been applied to the solid phase extraction of GTFX in different spiked biological fluids. For the first time, studies of dispersibility and solubility behaviors with different solvents and water were performed to demonstrate amphiphilicity and also to find the better nanomaterial obtained. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray (XRD) were used to characterize the nanomaterials, and Scatchard plot analysis to demonstrate the binding kinetic. Results suggest that the dispersibility, solubility and the adsorption in water have relationships with the structure of nanomaterials prepared. The oleic acid coated on the M-MIP combined with the washing process has enhanced the amphiphilicity of the nanomaterials. The M-MIP2 showed better selectivity and adsorption behavior with imprinted efficiency higher than (2) in water, as well as in biological fluids. Moreover, no interference with constituents of blank urine and blank serum samples for solid phase extraction (SPE) was observed. Moreover, loading recovery was found higher than 95% with low RSD. The novel amphiphilic magnetic nanomaterial prepared here as sorbent is suitable for SPE of GTFX in biological fluids for therapeutic monitoring control. It could be also used as carrier in drug delivery system for experimental and clinical studies., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The preparation, characterization and application of novel anticancer "epirubicin" (EPI) water-compatible magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (M-MIPs) like artificial antibodies by computational design and chemical synthesis as a carrier for drug delivery is described herein. Two monomers: methacrylic acid (MAA) and methacrylamide (MAM) were selected by computational simulation from the four chemicals used. Covalent and non-covalent bonds were evaluated by this technique based on the interaction mode and energy with template or solvent. Non-covalent bonding was predominant in all cases and major energy interaction was observed. The nanomaterials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The loading and controlled release studies performed showed a slight advantage for the M-MIP obtained from MAA than that from MAM at ambient temperature. However, the drug release in vitro was slightly better for the second M-MIP when the temperature increased to 50 °C. The water-compatible nanomaterial showed good pH-sensitive drug release profiles in vitro. Briefly, due to its magnetic property, amphiphilicity, good biomimetic recognition of EPI, high adsorption capacity and controlled release, the epirubicin M-MIPs synthesized in this study are suitable to be applied to a magnetic targeted drug delivery system.

Fluoroquinolones (FQs) have emerged as one of the most important class of antibiotics. Due to their low concentration in bio-matrix samples which contain a lot of interfering substances, the efficient solid phase extraction and accurate determination of FQs remain a challenge. In this paper, a new strategy for the isolation and enrichment of FQs from egg samples was obtained by molecularly imprinted polymers on the surface of magnetic carbon nanotubes (MCNTs@MIP), which not only can be collected and separated rapidly by an external magnetic field, but also have a high specific surface area, outstanding mechanical properties and specific recognition for FQs. MCNTs@MIP were prepared using ofloxacin as a pseudo template, methacrylic acid as a functional monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as a cross-linker. The characteristics of the MCNTs@MIP were assessed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), multipoint Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The results of the adsorption experiments not only demonstrated rapid dynamic adsorption but also showed a high selectivity toward FQs. An extraction method using MCNTs@MIP coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for the determination of four FQs in egg samples. The recovery of four FQs ranged from 95.2% ± 3.2% to 100.7% ± 3.1% and the detection limits ranged from 0.25-0.40 ng g(-1). The results demonstrate that the proposed method based on pseudo template MCNTs@MIP is a promising approach for the preconcentration, purification, and simultaneous analysis of four FQs in bio-matrix samples.

The loading behavior of gatifloxacin (GTFX) in human urine and lake water on a novel magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer used as extraction sorbent with UV-Visible spectrometric analysis has been studied. The magnetic polymers had been prepared using GTFX as template molecule and Fe3O4 as magnetic component. The polymer had been characterized by SEM, Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, and appropriate magnet separator. Parameters affecting the extraction efficiency were evaluated in order to achieve optimal loading and reduce nonspecific interactions. Good linearity of the method had been obtained in the range between 0.25 and 15 μg mL(-1) by UV-Vis spectrophotometry at 286 nm with spectral analysis from 240 to 400 nm. The method detection and quantification limits of GTFX in water were 0.075 and 0.25 μg mL(-1), respectively. This study showed good selectivity and loading efficiency (α > 2) of the polymers. The loading behavior of GTFX in the samples spiked on polymers had been obtained and each other with recovery higher than 91% with RSD% between 2.5 and 3.3. No pretreatment of samples were needed and no interference of compounds in urine and lake water were observed during adsorption., (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

A novel composite imprinted material, on the basis of magnetic carbon nanotubes (MCNTs)-incorporated layer using gatifloxacin as a template, methacrylic acid as a functional monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as a cross-linker, was successfully synthesized by a surface imprinting technique. Adsorption dynamics and a Scatchard adsorption model were employed to evaluate the adsorption process. The results showed that magnetic carbon nanotubes molecularly imprinted polymers (MCNTs@MIP) displayed a rapid dynamic adsorption and a high adsorption capacity of 192.7 μg/mg toward GTFX. Applied MCNTs@MIP as a sorbent, a magnetic solid phase extraction method coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (MSPE-HPLC) was developed for the determination of GTFX in serum samples. The recoveries from 79.1±4.8% to 85.3±4.2% were obtained. MCNTs@MIP can not only be collected and separated fast by external magnetic field but also have high surface-to-volume ratio, outstanding mechanical properties and specific recognition toward template molecule. In addition, the MCNTs@MIP could be regenerated, which could be used for five cycles with lost of less than 7.8% of its recovery on average. These analytical results of serum samples display that the proposed method based on MCNTs@MIP is applicable for fast and selective extraction of therapeutic agents from biological fluids., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes of carbon, made of graphite and constructed in cylindrical tubes with nanometer in diameter and several millimeters in length. Their impressive structural, mechanical, and electronic properties are due to their small size and mass, their strong mechanical potency, and their high electrical and thermal conductivity. CNTs have been successfully applied in pharmacy and medicine due to their high surface area that is capable of adsorbing or conjugating with a wide variety of therapeutic and diagnostic agents (drugs, genes, vaccines, antibodies, biosensors, etc.). They have been first proven to be an excellent vehicle for drug delivery directly into cells without metabolism by the body. Then other applications of CNTs have been extensively performed not only for drug and gene therapies but also for tissue regeneration, biosensor diagnosis, enantiomer separation of chiral drugs, extraction and analysis of drugs and pollutants. Moreover, CNTs have been recently revealed as a promising antioxidant. This minireview focuses the applications of CNTs in all fields of pharmacy and medicine from therapeutics to analysis and diagnosis as cited above. It also examines the pharmacokinetics, metabolism and toxicity of different forms of CNTs and discusses the perspectives, the advantages and the obstacles of this promising bionanotechnology in the future.