Separation and determination of trace environmental estrogen through molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction coupled to high performance liquid chromatography

In recent years, there has been an increasing demand on the determination of trace environmental estrogen. In this study, a new 17 beta-estradiol molecularly imprinted polymer was successfully synthesized on the surface of activated silica gel. This prepared molecularly imprinted polymer was characterized, and found to exhibit good recognition, high selectivity, and a rapid adsorption-desorption dynamic toward 17 beta-estradiol. Using the molecularly imprinted polymer as a sorbent, an effective method of solid phase extraction coupled to high performance liquid chromatography for the separation and determination of 17 beta-estradiol was developed. Under optimal conditions, the detection limit (S/N = 3) of 17 beta-estradiol was 12.0 ng L-1. The enrichment factor was 198, and the linear range of the calibration graph was 0.05-300 mg L-1. Blank water samples spiked with 17 beta-estradiol at three different levels were analyzed by the developed method to afford recoveries ranging from 82.7% to 103.0%. Moreover, this presented method was applied to the quantitative detection of 17 beta-estradiol in a polluted water sample with a level of 0.024 mg L-1.