The molecularly imprinted polymer supported by anodic alumina oxide nanotubes membrane for efficient recognition of chloropropanols in vegetable oils

A new route to synthesize a covalent interaction-based molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) material for 3-chloro-1,2-propanediol (3-MCPD) inside the nanopores of anodic alumina oxide (AAO) is presented. A series of adsorption experiments showed MIP had good extraction capacity and selectivity for 3-MCPD. In order to evaluate the usability of the MIP nanotubes membrane, a method combining AAO@MIP membrane extraction with gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS) detection was developed for determination of chloropropanols. The limits of detection for the proposed method were 0.072 and 0.13 µg·L−1, respectively, for 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP. The average recoveries of 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP spiked oil samples at three concentrations (0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 mg·kg−1) were in the range of 75.6-101.0% with a RSD of 3.3-8.4%, indicating the method would be suitable for determination of chloropropanols in vegetable oils.