Synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymer as a sorbent for solid phase extraction of bovine albumin from whey, milk, urine and serum

This study describes the synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) using bovine albumin as a template, 2-VP as a functional monomer, EGDMA as a cross-linker and AIBN as an initiator by radical polymerization. Non-imprinted polymers (NIPs) were prepared and treated with the same method, but in the absence of bovine albumin. The synthesized MIPs and NIPs were characterized on the basis of FTIR, TGA and DTA. An adsorption process (solid phase extraction, SPE) for the removal of bovine albumin using the fabricated MIPs and NIPs was evaluated under various conditions. Effective parameters on bovine albumin retention for example, pH, flow rate, nature of the eluent, the ionic strength, selectivity coefficient, and retention capacity were studied. Competition test implicates that the MIP adsorbents have the strongest specific retention and enrichment for bovine albumin respect to NIPs. The maximum adsorption of bovine albumin by the fabricated MIPs was 24 mg/g. The calibration curves were linear in the range of 20-200 mg/L of bovine albumin. The limit of detection (LOD), the calibration sensitivity, the relative standard deviation (RSD) and preconcentration factor under optimal experimental conditions were 2.44 and 25, respectively. The extraction of bovine albumin from blood serum, urine, whey and milk samples had a selectivity and enrichment property. In the actual experiment for real samples, recovery of ~ 80% was achieved.