Molecularly imprinted polymers for selective analysis of chemical warfare surrogate and nuclear signature compounds in complex matrices

Abstract

This paper describes the preparation and evaluation of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) that display specificity toward diisopropyl methylphosphonate (DIMP) and tributyl phosphate (TBP). Polymer activity was assessed by solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography experiments. Both DIMP- and TBP-specific vinylpyridine-based MIPs selectively retained their targets relative to a non-imprinted control. Proof-of-principle experiments demonstrated highly selective analysis of the targets from fortified complex matrix samples (diesel fuel, gasoline, and air extract concentrate). The retained MIP fractions gave near quantitative recovery of the target analytes with very low matrix background content. The same fraction from the control sorbent recovered only about half of the analyte and tended to be less pure.