Molecularly imprinted polymers for solid phase extraction of orghanophosphorus pesticides

Abstract

Molecularly imprinted polymer-solid phase extraction (MIP-SPE) adsorbent was prepared for the analysis of selected organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) in environmental sample. In this work, the influence of process parameters on the preparation of imprinted polymer is presented. In the procedure of polymerization, molecularly imprinted bulk polymer was prepared using quinalphos and methacrylic acid (MAA) as template molecule and functional monomer, respectively. The influence of the following parameters on recognition properties was investigated namely, types of crosslinker (ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) or divinylbenzene (DVB)) and porogenic solvents (acetonitrile, dichloromethane, toluene, chloroform). Molar ratio of template:functional monomer:cross linker was fixed at 1:4:20. Soxhlet extraction method was conducted to remove the imprint molecule in order to create the recognition sites. A blank/non-imprinted polymer (NIP) was produced simultaneously using identical procedure except in the absence of template molecule.