Molecularly imprinted polymers for the selective solid-phase extraction of chloramphenicol

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Separation Science

Background:

• Selective separation of antibiotics like chloramphenicol is crucial for quality control.
• Developing efficient extraction methods is essential for accurate pharmaceutical and food analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and evaluate bulk polymers for the selective separation of chloramphenicol.
• To investigate the influence of functional monomers on polymer recognition properties.
• To assess the efficacy of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for solid-phase extraction (SPE) of chloramphenicol.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of bulk polymers using 2-vinylpyridine, diethylaminoethyl methacrylate, or methacrylic acid monomers.
• Chromatographic evaluation of polymer retention under nonpolar and aqueous elution conditions.
• Solid-phase extraction (SPE) using MIPs as sorbents for chloramphenicol recovery from standard and spiked honey samples.

Main Results:

• Polymers demonstrated selective retention of chloramphenicol via hydrogen bonding and ionic interactions under nonpolar elution.
• High retention (k > 100) was observed under aqueous elution due to hydrophobic interactions.
• MIP-based SPE achieved nearly 100% recovery from standard solutions and ~90% from spiked honey.
• MIPs effectively suppressed matrix effects and preconcentrated chloramphenicol for analysis.

Conclusions:

• Functional monomers significantly influence polymer recognition properties for chloramphenicol separation.
• MIPs are highly effective for selective chloramphenicol extraction and preconcentration.
• The developed SPE method offers high recovery and matrix effect suppression, suitable for complex sample matrices like honey.