Chromatographycally efficient microspherical composites of molecularly imprinted xerogels deposited inside mesoporous silica

•New preparation method of microspherical imprinted xerogel (MIX) developed.•Prepared MIX consisted of imprinted gel inside mesoporous silica.•Recognitive MIXs for S-naproxen were obtained with the proposed technique.•Outstanding improvement attained on dynamic features of MIX against bulk format.

A different approach to the preparation of microspheric particles of molecularly imprinted xerogels (MIX) is presented here. The technique consisted of filling up the pores of spherical, mesoporous, bare silica particles with a pregelification mixture by applying pressure. Upon gelification and drying, thin layers of MIX were deposited on the mesopores. Spherical composites of S-naproxen (S-NAP) imprints were produced by following this simple strategy. The performance of the imprints was quite satisfactory in terms of recognition ability (ascertained by selectivity against ibuprofen, α = 4.9, and an imprinting factor of 13) whereas an outstanding improvement on dynamic features (expressed as column efficiency), as compared to the corresponding bulk format MIX (9 vs. 1.2 theoretical plates/cm), was reached.