Dummy molecularly imprinted polymers for class-selective extraction of amphetamine-type stimulants from alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages

Abstract

Molecularly imprinted polymer was constructed for the first time through dummy imprinting strategy with homopiperonylamine as dummy template. The prepared dummy molecularly imprinted polymer (DMIP) showed high class selectivity towards the most popular amphetamine-type stimulants (ATSs) such as methamphetamine, amphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxy-amphetamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-ethylamphetamine with the imprinting factors of 2.280∼3.698 and selectivity factors of 1.654∼3.698. Moreover, ATSs could be rapidly adsorbed from water with the equilibrium time within 5 min. Hydrogen-bonding interaction between the amino groups of ATSs and carboxy on DMIP could be dominated adsorption mechanism. DMIP was employed as solid phase extraction (SPE) sorbents. Under the optimum extraction conditions, the method using DMIP-based SPE and high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry showed good linearity in the range of 0.025∼1.00 μmol L−1, good repeatability (RSD 4.8∼8.6%, n = 5) and low limits of quantification (0.007∼0.200 ng mL−1, S/N = 10). Satisfactory recoveries (72.5∼120%) with low RSD values (<10%) were obtained for all targets viz. spiked coke carbonated drinks, beer and cocktail. Compared with other commercial SPE sorbents, DMIP exhibited lower matrix effect (ME) for coke, beer and cocktail with ME values of 101∼124%, 75.8∼80.2% and 103∼128%, respectively. The obtained results suggested that the developed DMIP materials could be a potential candidate for pretreatment of ATSs in alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.