Separation and determination of amoxicillin in wastewater samples using molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles followed by HPLC-UV

Molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (MIP NPs) were synthesized using a noncovalent molecular imprinting approach for the selective extraction of amoxicillin from wastewater samples. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) method based on the synthesized MIP NPs followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to avaluate the affinity of MIP NPs to amoxicillin. The effect of significant parameters on the extraction process such as sample solution flow rate, breakthrough volume, sample pH, type and volume of the elution solvent as well as the salt addition were investigated and optimized . Under the optimum conditions, the calibration graphs were linear in the range of 0.06–60 µg/L with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.02 µg/L. The relative standard deviation (RSD, for 1.0 µg/L of amoxicillin in wastewater) was 4.1% (n=7). The SPE using the MIP NPs provided a high enrichment factor (1667) for amoxicillin. These data indicated that the MIP NPs had a perfect selectivity and affinity for amoxicillin and could be used for selective extraction and analysis of amoxicillin in wastewaters.