Preparation of Hybrid Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Based on 3-Triethoxysilylpropyl Methacrylic Amide for Solid-Phase Extraction of Gatifloxacin From Lake Water

A novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) against gatifloxacin based on a hybrid monomer (3-triethoxysilylpropyl methacrylic amide, APTES-MAA) was reported. In this study, the imprinted monolith was synthesized with gatifloxacin as template, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as cross-linker, and APTES-MAA as functional monomer in a mixture of acetonitrile and isooctane as porogen via an optimization based on density functional theory (DFT). The polymers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and mercury porosimetry. The resulting hybrid MIPs (HMIPs) showed high affinity and selectivity to the template molecule with an imprinted factor of 16.28 ± 0.53, which was 6.1 times higher than that of the traditional methacrylic acid-based MIP. The MIP was used as an adsorbent in solid-phase extraction of lake water with gatifloxacin. The recovery was 96.52 ± 2.69%. The method exhibits the advantageous features of cost-effectiveness and high sensitivity, rendering it a promising approach for analyzing organic pollutants in water.