Preparation and selective recognition of a novel solid-phase microextraction fiber combined with molecularly imprinted polymers for the extraction of parabens in soy sample.

A prepared molecularly imprinted polymer with ethyl p-hydroxybenzoate as template molecule was applied for the first time to a homemade solid-phase microextraction fiber. The molecularly imprinted polymer-coated solid-phase microextraction fiber was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. Various parameters were investigated, including extraction temperature, extraction time, and desorption time. Under the optimum extraction conditions, the molecularly imprinted polymer-coated solid-phase microextraction fiber exhibited higher selectivity with greater extraction capacity toward parabens compared with the nonimprinted polymer-coated solid-phase microextraction fiber and commercial fibers. The molecularly imprinted polymer-coated solid-phase microextraction fiber was tested using gas chromatography to determine parabens, including methyl p-hydroxybenzoate, ethyl p-hydroxybenzoate, and propyl p-hydroxybenzoate. The linear ranges were 0.01-10 µg/mL with a correlation coefficient above 0.9943. The detection limits (under signal-to-noise ratio of 3) were below 0.30 µg/L. The fiber was successfully applied to the simultaneous analysis of three parabens in spiked soy samples with satisfactory recoveries of 95.48, 97.86, and 92.17%, respectively. The relative standard deviations (n=6) were within 2.83-3.91%. The proposed molecularly imprinted polymer-coated solid-phase microextraction method is suitable for selective extraction and determination of trace parabens in food samples.

Preparation and evaluation of molecularly imprinted microspheres for solid-phase extraction of 1,4-hydroxybenzoic acid esters in soy.

Molecularly imprinted microspheres (MIMs) were prepared by precipitation polymerization for the binding and recognition of 1,4-hydroxybenzoic acid esters. Ethyl p-hydroxybenzoate (EtPHB) was used as the template molecule, methacrylic acid as the functional monomer, ethylene dimethacrylate as the linking agent. It was evaluated by solid-phase extraction column packed with MIMs combined with liquid chromatography to determine trace preservatives including benzoic acid, methyl p-hydroxybenzoate, EtPHB, propyl p-hydroxybenzoate in food products. A solid-phase extraction based on MIM procedure was used to isolate four additives from the food matrix before quantitative analysis. The Scatchard plot suggested that the template-polymer system had two-site binding behavior with the dissociation constants of 0.3577 and 3.952 mg/g, respectively. The rebinding test, based on the molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction column technique, showed the recoveries of soy samples spiked with four additives within 88.4-110.6%, with the relative standard deviations of 1.97-3.82%. Finally, the method was successfully applied for the analysis of parabens in foodstuff without traditional pretreatment.

Application of pseudo-template molecularly imprinted polymers by atom transfer radical polymerization to the solid-phase extraction of pyrethroids.

A polymer-based adsorption medium with molecular recognition ability for homologs of pyrethroids was prepared by atom transfer radical polymer iration using a fragment imprinting technique. Phenyl ether-biphenyl eutectic was utilized as a pseudo-template molecule, and the adsorption medium prepared was evaluated by solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography. Selectivity of the medium for pyrethroids was evaluated using it as solid phase extraction packing by Gas Chromatography. The results demonstrated that the absorption amount of bifenthrin, fenpropathrin, permethrin, cypermethrin, fenvalerate, Dursban and pentachloronitrobenzene for molecularly imprinted polymers were 2.32, 2.12, 2.18, 2.20, 2.30, 1.30 and 1.40mgg-1, respectively, while the non-imprinted polymers were 1.20, 1.13, 1.25, 1.05, 1.20, 1.23 and 1.32mgg-1, respectively. The rebinding test based on the molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction column technique showed the recoveries of honey sample spiked with seven insecticides within 88.5-106.2%, with relative standard deviations of 2.38-5.63%. Finally, the method was successfully applied to the analysis of pyrethroids in a honey sample.