Pseudo template molecularly imprinted polymer for determination of 14 kind of β-agonists in animal urine by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A pseudo template molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for selective extraction of β-agonists was prepared using 4-hydroxyphenethyl alcohol as pseudo template molecule, methyl acrylic acid as functional monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross-linker. Selectivity and adsorption capacity of prepared MIP were studied in detail. MIP selectively adsorbed 14 types of β-agonists. Advantages of the prepared polymer include non-template leakage in purification of target analytes and cheap cost. MIP was used to purify β-agonists in urine samples. The developed method was combined with ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. In optimum conditions, recoveries of the developed method ranged from 84.2% to 109.8% with low coefficients of variation at below 15%. Limits of detection and quantification for 14 target β-agonists in urine samples reached below 0.05 ng/mL and 0.1 ng/mL, respectively. The developed method based on MIP enrichment and purification were successfully applied to analysis of target analytes in 50 actual urine samples.