Computational simulation and preparation of fluorescent magnetic molecularly imprinted silica nanospheres for ciprofloxacin or norfloxacin sensing

A magnetic molecularly imprinted fluorescent sensor for the sensitive and convenient determination of ciprofloxacin or norfloxacin in human urine was synthesized and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Both cadmium telluride quantum dots and ferroferric oxide nanoparticles are introduced into the polymer for the rapid separation and detection of the target molecules. The synthesized molecularly imprinted polymers were applied to detect ciprofloxacin or its structural analog norfloxacin in human urine with the detection limit 130 ng/mL. A computational study was developed to evaluate the template–monomer geometry and interaction energy in the polymerization mixture to determine the reaction molar ratio of the template and monomer molecules.