Preparation of Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for the Rapid Detection of Diethylstilbestrol in Milk Samples.

BACKGROUND: Diethylstilbestrol (DES) residues are harmful to human health because of their potential carcinogenic properties. Therefore, it is important to develop a fast and efficient pretreatment method to prevent their harmful effects on human health and the environment.

RESULTS: In this paper, two types of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) of DES were prepared by bulk polymerization and sol-gel, respectively. The synthetic materials were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Adsorption capacities of the bulk and sol-gel MMIPs were investigated. A rapid detection method was developed using the two MMIPs as sorbents, coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), for the determination of DES residues in milk samples. Under optimized conditions, the limit of detection (LOD) (S/N = 3) of both methods for DES was 2.0 μg L-1 ; and the linear response range to DES was 0.1-500 mg L-1 . The milk samples were analyzed according to this method with good recoveries of 88.3%-97.6% and 90.5%-103.5% for the two types of MMIPs, respectively.

CONCLUSION: The method described had high sensitivity and high selectivity, and could prove to be a new method for the rapid determination of DES residues in milk samples. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.