Determination of nicotine in tobacco by molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction with differential pulsed elution

Abstract

A molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction-differential pulsed elution (MISPE-DPE) method has been developed for the determination of nicotine in tobacco. Nicotine and a trace alkaloid myosmine were able to bind to the molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) packed in a micro-column when acetonitrile was used as the mobile phase. However, over 95% of the bound myosmine could be desorbed and washed away by a 20 µl pulse of methanol, compared to only 43% of the bound nicotine. The remaining quantity of bound nicotine was desorbed by a 20 µl pulse of 1% trifluoroacetic acid in water, for direct UV detection at 254 nm. This MISPE-DPE method provided inherent selectivity for nicotine that allowed both a shorter analysis time (3 min) and a lower analysis cost than liquid chromatographic methods. A detection limit of 1.8 µg ml–1 and a linear dynamic range up to 1000 µg ml–1 were obtained. Preconcentration of 845 µl of a 10 ng ml–1 nicotine standard solution produced a detectable peak signal. These analytical figures of merit are superior to those reported previously for several nicotine–MIP-based methods.