Synthesis of Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Phase (MIP) for Trace Analysis of Atrazine in the Environment

SEYED JAMALEDDIN SHAHTAHERI (1), Alireza Koohpaei (2), Mohammad Reza Ganjali (3), Abbas Rahimi Forushani (4)

(1) Department of Occupational Health & Center for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (2) Department of Occupational Health, Gom University of Medical Sciences, Gom, Iran (3) University Collage of Science, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran (4) School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

     Abstract Number: 33
     Last modified: October 7, 2009

Abstract
Although a strong development has been performed in instrumental analysis methodologies, sample preparation is still regarded as an important step in the overall analytical scheme. Nowadays, considerable amount of method developments is spent on optimizing modern strategies of sample preparation that deals with the trace level determination of occupational and environmental pollutants such as herbicides. For a triazine herbicide, named atrazine, a novel system among the solid phase extraction techniques (SPE) has been designed based on a molecular imprinted polymer phase (MIP). This system demonstrates the synthesis of the complementary to atrazine MIP, as well as the optimization of the factors, influencing its efficiency. The type and the amounts of functional monomer and solvents, template amount, cross-linker, initiator as well as the polymerization temperature were evaluated through the optimization process. In acAlthough a strong development has been performed in instrumental analysis methodologies, sample preparation is still regarded as an important step in the overall analytical scheme. Nowadays, considerable amount of method developments is spent on optimizing modern strategies of sample preparation that deals with the trace level determination of occupational and environmental pollutants such as herbicides. For a triazine herbicide, named atrazine, a novel system among the solid phase extraction techniques (SPE) has been designed based on a molecular imprinted polymer phase (MIP). This system demonstrates the synthesis of the complementary to atrazine MIP, as well as the optimization of the factors, influencing its efficiency. The type and the amounts of functional monomer and solvents, template amount, cross-linker, initiator as well as the polymerization temperature were evaluated through the optimization process. In accordance with these results, the optimum condition for the efficient polymerized sorbent, considering the recovery efficiency were; solvent: acetonotrile, 5.03 mL, monomer: methacrylic acid, 4.73 mmol, template: 0.811 mmol, cross-linker: 21.32 mmol, initiator: 2.27 mmol and temperature: 40.86 oC. The optimum molar ratio among the template, monomer and cross-linker for atrazine was 1: 5.83: 26.28. For the atrazine detection, a reversed phase-HPLC-UV was employed with an isocratic solvent delivery system [acetonitrile: mixture of H2O and ammonium acetate (1×10-3 M), 50:50], a flow-rate of 1.4 mL min-1, and a UV-wavelength of 226 nm. The attained resulting data exhibited that the utilization of a central composite design could increase the precision and accuracy of the complementary to atrazine MIP synthesis and optimization, and possibly other similar analogues. Therefore, a new approach is provided by this methodology for the synthesis of tailor-made solid phases, called MIPs, leading to the enhancement of the trace residue analysis of pesticides in the environment and work places.