Chromatographic characterization of molecularly imprinted microspheres for the separation and determination of trimethoprim in aqueous buffers.

Molecularly imprinted microspheres (MIMs) against trimethoprim (TMP), prepared by aqueous microsuspension polymerization, bound strongly to TMP, by electrostatic and other non-covalent interactions. The effects of pH, kind and ionic strength (I) of buffer on capacity factors (k') have been discussed in detail. The capacity factors for TMP increased with increasing pH of both acetate and phosphate buffers. The effects of ionic strength on capacity factors were very substantial and the linear relationship between logk' and logI was described by the equation logk'=0.3162-0.4420logI with R=-0.9995. The results showed that pH 3.5 acetate buffer (0.05 mol L(-1)) containing 0.1 mol L(-1) sodium chloride and a 1:9 ratio of buffer to methanol were the optimum conditions for separation and determination of TMP. The calibration plot of peak area against concentration was linear with R=0.9979.