Molecularly imprinted polymer with high-fidelity binding sites for the selective extraction of barbiturates from human urine

In this paper we describe the synthesis of a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) by precipitation polymerisation, with barbital as the template molecule, and the application of the barbital MIP as a molecularly selective sorbent in the solid-phase extraction (SPE) of barbiturates from human urine samples. The MIP was synthesised by precipitation polymerisation using 2,6-bis-acrylamidopyridine as the functional monomer and DVB-80 as the cross-linking agent. The spherical MIP particles produced were 4.2 ± 0.4 μm in diameter; a non-imprinted control polymer (NIP) in bead form was 4.8 ± 0.4 μm (mean ± standard deviation) in diameter. The particles were packed into a solid-phase extraction cartridge and employed as a novel sorbent in a molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) protocol. The MIP showed high selectivity for the template molecule, barbital, a feature which can be ascribed to the high-fidelity binding sites present in the MIP which arose from the use of 2,6-bis-acrylamidopyridine as the functional monomer. However, the MIP also displayed useful cross-selectivity for other barbiturates besides barbital. For real samples, the MIP was applied for the extraction of four barbiturates from human urine. However, due to the high urea concentration in this sample which interfere the proper interaction of barbiturates onto the MIP, a tandem system using a commercially available sorbent was developed.