Biomimetic ELISA detection of malachite green based on magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers

A direct competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method was used for the detection of malachite green (MG) with a high sensitivity and selectivity using magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) as a bionic antibody. MMIPs were prepared through emulsion polymerization using Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles as magnetic nuclei, MG as a template, methacrylic acid (MAA) as a functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as a crosslinking agent and span-80/tween-80 as mixed emulsifiers. The MMIPs were characterized by scanning electron micrographs (SEM), thermal-gravimetric analyzer (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), respectively. A high magnetic saturation value of 54.1emug^-1 was obtained, resulting in rapid magnetic separation of MMIPs with an external magnet. The IC₅₀ of the established ELISA method was 20.1μgL^-1 and the detection limit (based on IC₈₅) was 0.1μgL^-1. The MMIPs exhibited high selective binding capacity for MG with cross-reactivities less than 3.9% for MG structural analogues. The MG spiking recoveries were 85.0%-106% with the relative standard deviations less than 4.7%. The results showed that the biomimetic ELISA method by using MMIPs as bionic antibody could be used to detect MG rapidly in fish samples with a high sensitivity and accuracy.