Molecularly imprinted biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles for specific recognition of Ochratoxin A

In this paper, we synthesized highly selective oligo(ethylene glycol) monomethyl ether methacrylate (OEGMA) based molecularly imprinted polymers for carcinogenic mycotoxin Ochratoxin A (OTA) on the surface of magnetic nanoparticles (MIP MNPs) via surface initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). Functional monomer OEGMA, crosslinker 1,2-ethyleneglycoldimethacrylate (EGDMA), template molecule OTA, initiator 3-bromopropyltrimethoxysilane (BPTS), Cu(I)Br and 2,2′-bipyridyl (2,2′-bpy) were selected for synthesis the MIP layer onto the surface of MNPs. After removing the template, the molecularly imprinted magnetic nanoparticles was used to detect OTA using UV-vis spectrophotometer. According to results, MIP MNPs showed fast adsorption, large adsorption capacity and highly selectivity toward to OTA. Also, the recovery of OTA in the spiked grape juice samples ranged from 97.1% to 97.4% with the relative standard deviation changed from 4.13% to 6.25%. As a result, MIP MNPs demonstrate high affinity to OTA targets have significant potential for clean-up applications in food samples