Synthesis and characterization of a molecularly imprinted polymer for the determination of spiramycin in sheep milk

A series of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) comprising reactionary sites which are complementary to macrolide antibiotic spiramycin (SPI) were synthetized by noncovalent bulk polymerization technique. MIPs were synthesized under different polymerization process and their recognition efficiency was evaluated in binding studies in comparison with non-imprinted polymers. The best MIP was morphologically characterized and equilibrium assays were carried out. The MIP was evaluated as a sorbent for extraction and preconcentration of SPI from aqueous and sheep milk samples, and an off-line MISPE method followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV diode-array detection was established. Good linearity were obtained for SPI in a range of 24-965μgkg-1 and the average recoveries at three spiked levels in milk samples were higher than 90% (RSD<5%). Limit of quantification was 24.1μgkg-1. Cross-reactivity studies from other macrolides with similar structure were tested. The optimum imprinted polymer showed a good selectivity and affinity for SPI, demonstrating the potential of the proposed MISPE for rapid, sensitive and effective sample pretreatment for selective determination of SPI in sheep milk samples.