Preparation and utilization of molecularly imprinted polymer for chlorsulfuron extraction from water, soil, and wheat plant

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was prepared using chlorsulfuron (CS), a herbicide as a template molecule, methacrylic acid as a functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as a cross-linker, methanol and toluene as a porogen, and 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator. The binding behaviors of the template chlorsulfuron and its analog on MIP were evaluated by equilibrium adsorption experiments, which showed that the MIP particles had specific affinity for the template CS. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) with the chlorsulfuron molecularly imprinted polymer as an adsorbent was investigated. The optimum loading, washing, and eluting conditions for chlorsulfuron molecularly imprinted polymer solid-phase extraction (CS-MISPE) were established. The optimized CS-MISPE procedure was developed to enrich and clean up the chlorsulfuron residue in water, soils, and wheat plants. Concentrations of chlorsulfuron in the samples were analyzed by HPLC-UVD. The average recoveries of CS spiked standard at 0.05~0.2 mg L(-1) in water were 90.2~93.3%, with the relative standard deviation (RSD) being 2.0~3.9% (n=3). The average recoveries of 1.0 mL CS spiked standard at 0.1~0.5 mg L(-1) in 10 g soil were 91.1~94.7%, with the RSD being 3.1~5.6% (n=3). The average recoveries of 1.0 mL CS spiked standard at 0.1~0.5 mg L(-1) in 5 g wheat plant were 82.3~94.3%, with the RSD being 2.9~6.8% (n=3). Overall, our study provides a sensitive and cost-effective method for accurate determination of CS residues in water, soils, and plants.