Synthesis of a novel molecularly imprinted organic–inorganic hybrid polymer for the selective isolation and determination of fluoroquinolones in tilapia

• Novel molecularly imprinted organic-inorganic hybrid polymer.
• High mechanical strength and special affinity to target analytes.
• Selective isolation and determination of fluoroquinolones in tilapia.
• High extraction and purification efficiency in polar solution.

A novel molecularly imprinted organic–inorganic hybrid polymer (MI-MAA/APTS) based on a dummy molecular imprinting technique and an organic–inorganic hybrid material technique was synthesised and used as a sorbent in solid-phase extraction for the selective isolation and determination of ofloxacin (OFL), lomefloxacin (LOM), and ciprofloxacin (CIP) in tilapia samples. The MI-MAA/APTS sorbent was prepared from 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilanes (APTS) as an inorganic source and methacrylic acid (MAA) as an organic source and exhibited high mechanical strength and special affinities to the analytes. A comparison of MI-MAA/APTS with other conventional sorbents (C18 and HLB) showed that MI-MAA/APTS displayed good selectivity and affinity for OFL, LOM, and CIP, and the recoveries of the analytes at three spiked levels were in the range of 85.1–101.0%, with the relative standard deviations ≤5.1%. The presented MI-MAA/APTS-SPE–HPLC method could be potentially applied to the determination of fluoroquinolones (FQs) in complex fish samples.