Confirmatory determination of chloramphenicol in honey using a molecularly imprinted polymer in a cleanup step with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry detection

Abstract

A sensitive solid-phase extraction method was developed using a new molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) in a cleanup step with detection using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for confirmatory determination of chloramphenicol (CAP) in honey. The MIP was prepared using a noncovalent and microwave-heating-induced polymerization method at 80°C. 4-Vinylpyridine, a mixture of trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate and 1,4-divinylbenzene, 1,1-azobis(cyclohexane carbonitrile) and Pluronic P123 were used as a monomer, crosslinkers, an initiator and a surfactant, respectively, in a mixture of acetonitrile and water. The polymer was used as a solid-phase extraction sorbent in the cleanup step of honey extracts prior to injection into an LC-MS/MS system. Honey samples were spiked at 0.30 μg/kg, 0.50 μg/kg and 1.0 μg/kg with d₅-CAP as the internal standard, and the mean recoveries of the spiked honey samples were in the range 91.9–104.6% with intra-day and inter-day precisions less than or equal to 7.9% and 9.3%, respectively.