Synthesis and applications of diethylstilbestrol-based molecularly imprinted polymer-coated hollow fiber tube

A novel molecularly imprinted polymer-coated polypropylene hollow fiber tube (MIP-HFT) was photoinitiated for the copolymerization of diethylstilbestrol (DES) as a template molecule, alpha-methacrylic acid as a functional monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as a crosslinking agent. The characteristics and applications of the MIP-HFT were investigated. In order to compare its characteristics with those of a non-imprinted polymer-immersed hollow fiber tube, the selectivity of the MIP-HFT was investigated using dienestrol and hexestrol as the structural analogues of a DES template. and phenol and methylbenzene were taken as reference compounds. The MIP-HFT was employed in the HPLC analysis of spiked milk samples. The detection limits of the method were found to be in the range 2.5-3.3 mu g L-1 for DES, dienestrol and hexestrol and the RSD% were in the range 6.4-8.9. The limits of quantitation were found to be in the range 8.7-9.4 mu g L-1 in milk for DES, dienestrol and hexestrol, and their average recoveries were 83.7-90.6% in the spiked milk samples. The experimental results revealed that the MIP-HFT provides a good carrier for the selective adsorption of DES and its chemical structure analogs, and can be used for the preconcentration of these compounds in complicated samples. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.