Simultaneous determination of amitriptyline, nortriptyline, and clomipramine in aqueous samples using selective multi-template molecularly imprinted polymers

Abstract

Molecularly imprinted polymers have gained attention as an efficient sorbent media to remove organic contaminants from diverse environmental matrices. In this research endeavor, multi-template molecularly imprinted polymer (mt-MIP) was synthesized and utilized in solid phase extraction (SPE) as a sorption medium for trace analysis of three tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) (i.e. nortriptyline (NOR), amitriptyline (AMI), and clomipramine (CLO)) by high performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detector (HPLC-PDA). Physicochemical properties of the synthesized sorbent were assessed by relevant spectroscopic and microscopic techniques to decipher their structural characteristics. mt-MIP with porous texture, cracks, and crevices on the external surface exhibit higher efficacy in extracting the target TCAs due to the enhanced tendency towards sorbate-sorbent interactions. The sorptive extraction of the mt-MIP was explored in standard and real samples (ground water, river water, hospital wastewater, and sewage water sample). mt-MIP integrated SPE technique coupled with HPLC-PDA exhibited linearity (R2 > 0.999) in the concentration ranging from 0.1 to 10 ng/mL with high precision (RSD% < 5) and accuracy (±3%). The developed method lower the detection limits for target TCAs to 0.016–0.029 ng/mL and provided good extraction efficiencies of 97.99 to 99.89%. The proposed mt-MIP-SPE-HPLC method offered high selectivity and sensitivity towards NOR, AMI, and CLO compared with the commercial C18-based SPE method. The spent mt-MIP was successfully regenerable (e.g., up to 8 cycles). The outcomes of the present work successfully revealed the apparent superiority of the mt-MIP towards the practical removal of target TCAs under real world conditions.