Multitemplate molecularly imprinted polymeric solid-phase microextraction fiber coupled with HPLC for endocrine disruptor analysis in water samples

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) usually show specific selectivity to a single template molecule and its structural analogs. But how about the selectivity is when multitemplates are used to obtain MIPs? Herein, ethyl p-hydrobenzoate (EP), bisphenol A (BPA) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) were used as template molecules to synthesize triple-template MIP (TMIP). The adsorption properties of the TMIP for three types of endocrine disruptors (EDCs) in environmental water samples were then examined. For comparison, three single-template molecularly imprinted polymers (SMIPs), three dual-template molecularly imprinted polymers (DMIPs), and a non-imprinted polymer (NIP) were synthesized through the same procedure for TMIP synthesis. DMIP using EP and DBP as templates showed the best selectivity and extraction amounts for EDCs among all MIPs, including TMIP. It was successfully used for EDCs analysis in environmental water samples. The linear range of was 0.1-125 mu g L-1. The limit of detection was 0.03 mu g.L-1. The recovery ranged from 87% to 120%, and the RSD% (n = 5) was less than 10%. Most importantly in the preparation of multitemplate MIPs, competition was observed between two or more template molecules and the monomer. Therefore, additional template molecules for multitemplate MIPs that do not weaken the previous template-monomer interactions might be considered.