Magnetic Dummy Template Silica Sol–Gel Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Nanospheres as Magnetic Solid-Phase Extraction Material for the Selective and Sensitive Determination of Bisphenol A in Plastic Bottled Beverages

Abstract

In this study, a core–shell magnetic dummy molecularly imprinted polymer (MDMIP) was prepared with a novel and simple method. The imprinting layer was synthesized directly on the surface of Fe3O4 by only one step, which avoided further modification on the exterior of magnetic core. 4,4′-Dihydroxybiphenyl (DDBP) was used as dummy template instead of bisphenol A (BPA) to eliminate the effect of template leakage on quantitative analysis. When used as solid-phase extraction sorbent, a rapid, sensitive, and accurate method for the simultaneous extraction, concentration, and determination of trace BPA in plastic bottled beverage samples by MDMIP-SPE coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed. Advantages of such method may be counted as the mild working temperature during the synthesis, simplicity of extraction procedure, avoidance of leakage of template, time-saving, and high binding capacity and affinity. Several parameters affecting the extraction efficiency of the analytes including the sorbent mass, the pH of sample solution, the HAc percentage in the elute, and the desorption time were investigated. Under optimized conditions, the calibration graph was linear over the range of 11.4–4560 ng mL−1 with the limit of detection of 0.083 ng L−1. In addition, the higher enrichment factors (400-fold) and good recoveries (88.6–99.5%) with relative standard deviation (RSD) values less than 9.5% were achieved. Moreover, the developed extraction protocol simplified the process of traditional solid-phase extraction (SPE) provided the possibility for separation and enrichment of BPA from complicated food matrices.