Superparamagnetic surface molecularly imprinted nanoparticles for water-soluble pefloxacin mesylate prepared via surface initiated atom transfer radical polymerization and its application in egg sample analysis

The novel superparamagnetic surface molecularly imprinted Fe3O4@MIP nanoparticles for water-soluble pefloxacin mesylate (PEF-M) were prepared via surface initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (si-ATRP). The binary mixture of methanol and water was selected as the polar solvents for fabricating PEF-M imprinted MIPs. The Fe3O4@MIP exhibited high saturation magnetization of 41.4 emu/g leading to the fast separation. The adsorption behaviors indicated that the Fe3O4@MIP nanoparticles possessed specific recognition and high affinity towards template PEF-M in aqueous media. Moreover, Fe3O4@MIP nanoparticles were directly used to selectively enrich PEF-M from egg samples. By RP-HPLC analysis, the recoveries of PEF-M were obtained as 92.8–96.5% with relative standard division of 2.4–4.0%.

► Fe3O4@MIP nanoparticles for water-soluble pefloxacin mesylate were prepared via ATRP.
► Fe3O4@MIP exhibited the excellent recognition ability to PEF-M in aqueous media.
► Fe3O4@MIP nanoparticles were used to selectively enrich PEF-M from egg samples.
► Imprinting water-soluble small molecules using high polar media via si-ATRP.