Molecularly imprinted polymer gel with superior recognition and adsorption capacity for amphenicol antibiotics in food matrices

Food Chem. 2025 Jan 15;463(Pt 2):141255. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.141255. Epub 2024 Sep 17.

Abstract

A molecular-imprinted polymer (MIP) gel with high effective recognition of amphenicol antibiotics was synthesized for the first time based on layered double hydroxide (LDH) as the support and initiator, and functionalized β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) as the functional monomer. The synergistic effect of molecular imprinting recognition and β-CD host-guest affinity enabled MIP gel to exhibit excellent selectivity (imprinted factors: 3.9-9.4) and high adsorption capacity (28.9-75.4 mg g-1) for amphenicol antibiotics. Different adsorption isotherms and kinetics models were followed, suggesting heterogeneous single-layer recognition and chemical adsorption. After 5 cycles of adsorption and desorption, the adsorption capacity of MIP gel retained above 83.6 %, demonstrating favorable reproducibility and stability. Under optimal conditions, the method validation showed a satisfactory limit of detection (5-10 μg L-1), good correlation (r2 > 0.9967), and respectable recovery (82.6-105.3 %). The MIP gel was applied to extract amphenicol antibiotics from food matrices, achieving recoveries in the range of 78.3-104.5 %. Importantly, the recognition mechanism was studied in detail using density functional theory. Therefore, the established method demonstrates high sensitivity and can be applied as a new tactic for detecting amphenicol antibiotics in food matrices.

Keywords: Adsorption; Amphenicol antibiotics; Layered double hydroxide; Molecular imprinted polymer gel; β- cyclodextrin.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adsorption
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents* / analysis
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents* / chemistry
  • Chloramphenicol / analysis
  • Chloramphenicol / chemistry
  • Food Contamination* / analysis
  • Gels / chemistry
  • Kinetics
  • Limit of Detection
  • Molecular Imprinting*
  • Molecularly Imprinted Polymers* / chemistry
  • Solid Phase Extraction
  • beta-Cyclodextrins / chemistry

Substances

  • Molecularly Imprinted Polymers
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Gels
  • beta-Cyclodextrins
  • Chloramphenicol