Solid-Phase Extraction of Florfenicol from Meat Samples by a Newly Synthesized Surface Molecularly Imprinted Sol–Gel Polymer

Abstract

A new molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as a solid-phase sorbent for selective extraction of florfenicol (FF) was prepared by combination of the surface molecular imprinting technique with the sol–gel process. The FF-imprinted silica sorbent was prepared using FF as template, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane as functional monomer and tetraethoxysilicate as cross-linker on the silica gel support. The non-imprinted silica (NIP) was synthesized in the same way without addition of FF. The MIP was evaluated as a sorbent in column extraction approach for extraction of FF from aqueous solutions followed by spectrofluorometric determination. The influence of certain variables including the sample pH, the sample volume, the sample flow rate, the type of eluent, and its flow rate on the extraction efficiency of FF was assessed. The prepared FF-MIP silica sorbent showed higher adsorption capacity (64.9 mg g⁻¹) and significant selectivity than the corresponding NIP (11.5 mg g⁻¹). The FF-MIP-based solid phase extraction method was successfully applied to the separation and determination of FF from fish and chiken meat samples under the optimized extraction conditions.