Preparation of molecularly imprinted polymers for recognition and extraction of benzoylureas from apple samples

In this work, diflubenzuron (DBZ) molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were synthesized by precipitation polymerization. The polymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS). The influences of synthetic conditions including template molecules, functional monomers and crosslinker on the surface morphology, particle size and size distribution of polymers were investigated. Scatchard analysis indicated the presence of specified recognition sites in MIPs. The Sips model was fitted better to the equilibrium data of MIPs over whole concentrations. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model was well fitted to the experimental data of adsorption kinetic experiment, suggesting the chemisorption mechanism between MIPs and DBZ. Four structurally similar compounds were used for the selectivity test of MIPs. It was observed that MIPs can selectively rebind the template molecules (DBZ) under the interference of four other structurally similar compounds. The application of MIPs in solid-phase extraction (SPE) offers a method for extraction and determination of benzoylureas (BUs) pesticides in apple samples prior to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis.