Determination of fusaric acid in maize using molecularly imprinted SPE clean-up

A new LC method to detect fusaric acid (FA) in maize is reported based on a molecularly imprinted SPE clean-up using mimic-templated molecularly imprinted polymers. Picolinic acid was used as a toxin analog for imprinting polymers during a thermolytic synthesis. Both acidic and basic functional monomers were predicted to have favorable binding interactions by MP2 ab initio calculations. Imprinted polymers synthesized with methacrylic acid or 2-dimethylaminoethylmethacrylate exhibited imprinting effects in SPE analysis. FA levels were determined using RP ion-pairing chromatography with diode-arrayUV detection and tetrabutylammonium hydrogen sulfate in the mobile phase. A method was developed to detect FA in maize using molecularly imprinted SPE analysis within the range of 1-100 mu g/g with recoveries between 83.9 and 92.1%.