Synthesis of a molecularly imprinted polymer for the selective solid-phase extraction of chloramphenicol from honey.

Solid-phase extraction (SPE) with a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as sorbent has been investigated for the clean-up of the broad-spectrum bacteriostatic antibiotic chloramphenicol (CAP) in honey samples. The MIP was prepared by using methacrylic acid (MAA) as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as cross-linker, chloroform as porogen and CAP as template molecule. The binding behaviour of the template CAP on the MIP was evaluated by high-performance liquid chromatography, and then the MIP was applied as a sorbent in SPE to selectively extract CAP from honey. It was shown that recoveries of nearly 100% of a CAP standard solution and up to 94% from spiked honey samples could be obtained after SPE.