Synthesis and characterization of magnetic-molecularly imprinted polymers for the HPLC-UV analysis of ametryn

Abstract Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (mag-MIP) were developed for the analysis of ametryn (4- N -ethyl-6-methylsulfanyl-2- N -propan-2-yl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine), a popular triazine herbicide. Iron oxide (Fe 3 O 4 ) nanoparticles were synthetized, and then modified with tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPS). Then MIPs' polymerimerization occurred in the nanoparticles' surface, using ethylene-glycol-dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the building monomer, 2,2′-azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) (AIBN) as the radical initiator, and 2-vinylpyridine as the functional monomer. The functional monomer was previously chosen by computational simulation. The mag-MIPs' adsorption behavior well-fitted a Langmuir model (q m of 8.6 mg g − 1 , K L of 5.2 L mg − 1 ) and pseudo first order kinetics (k 1 of 2.5 × 10 − 4  s − 1 ). The developed analytical methodology, using high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection (HPLC-UV), showed suitable selectivity and had a limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of 25 and 82 nmol L − 1 , respectively.