Preparation and Evaluation of Histamine Imprinted Polymer as a Selective Sorbent in Molecularly Imprinted Solid-Phase Extraction Coupled with High Performance Liquid Chromatography Analysis in Canned Fish

A series of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared against histamine. Different template/monomer ratios were applied to optimize the imprinting condition. Methacrylic acid (MAA) as a functional monomer and Chloroform as a solvent were applied in polymerization process. The binding properties of MIPs were studied in comparison with a blank non-imprinted polymer. The optimized polymer, with a histamine/MAA ratio of 1/4, was selected as a sorbent in molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) of histamine from canned fish. Scatchard analysis of MIP-histamine interactions revealed two types of binding sites for MIP: high affinity (K-D = 11.11 mu M) and low affinity (K-D = 333.3 mu M). The MISPE procedure was calibrated and a recovery of 76.5-97.6 % was obtained. The intra-and inter-day precision values were less than 5.70 % and 10.1 %, respectively. The selectivity of MISPE for histamine was also studied in comparison with some other structurally similar amines, which could be simultaneously present in canned fish. The performance of the imprinted polymer was examined and the results indicated that its good selectivity and affinity for histamine was very promising. Therefore, the proposed calibrated method could be applied in selective extraction and analysis of histamine in canned fish.