Molecularly imprinted polymer as micro-solid phase extraction combined with high performance liquid chromatography to determine phenolic compounds in environmental water samples

The molecularly imprinted polymer with 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP) as the template molecule and methylacrylic acid (MAA), divinylbenzene (DVB) as functional monomer and the crosslinker, respectively, has been prepared and used as molecularly imprinted micro-solid phase extraction (MIMSPE) procedure for the selectively preconcentration of phenolic compounds from environmental water samples. Various parameters for the extraction efficiency of the MIMSPE have been evaluated. The optimized MIMSPE method allowed the extraction of the analytes from the sample matrix followed by a selective washing step using acetonitrile containing 0.3% (v/v) acetic acid. The characteristics of the MIMSPE method were valid by high performance liquid chromatography. The recoveries ranged between 88.9% and 102.5% for tap water, between 80.0% and 94.0% for river water, between 80.0% and 90.5% for sewage water fortified with 0.4 mg L−1 of phenol, 4-chlorophenol (4-CP), 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), 2,4,6-TCP, pentachlorophenol (PCP) were obtained. This method has been successfully applied to preconcentrate and determine of phenolic compounds in environmental water samples directly.