A polypyrrole doped with fluorescent CdTe quantum dots and incorporated into molecularly imprinted silica for fluorometric determination of ampicillin.

A fluorometric method is described for the detection of ampicillin. A polypyrrole containing fluorescent CdTe quantum dots was incorporated into a silica-based molecularly imprinted polymer. The composite MIP displays good fluorescence (with excitation/emission maxima at 355/548 nm), and high selectivity and affinity for ampicillin due to the use of polypyrrole. Ampicillin is found to quench the fluorescence of composite much more strongly than the emission of a non-imprinted polymer. The imprinting factor of 7.5 implies that the nanocomposite probe contains specific binding sites. The MIP probe has two linear response ranges, one from 0.10 to 25 μg L-1 of ampicillin, and one from 25 to 100 μg L-1. The limit of detection is 0.05 μg L-1. The method was applied to the determination of ampicillin in (spiked) milk and meat samples and gave recoveries between 81.7 and 98.7%. The results agreed well with HPLC techniques. Graphical abstract Schematic presentation of nanocomposite fluorescence probe of polypyrrole and quantum dots incorporated in a molecularly imprinted polymer. Integrating of QDs, high specificity of MIPs and high affinity of polypyrrole, the method exhibited highly sensitive and selective for ampicillin detection.