Use of imprinted affinity media in SPE

The dispersion polymer was applied for the specific enrichment of PAM in urine samples. After being conditioned with pH 5 or pH 7 mobile phase, the sample solution (100 mL) spiked with PAM was loaded with the mobile phase at a flow rate of 2 mL/min. PAM was then desorbed by a pH 2 mobile phase at flow rate of 0.1 mL/min. The elution was monitored by UV absorption. A low concentration (30 nM) of PAM in urine sample was enriched (enrichment factor = 54) and 

Loading a sample including PAM-seleciive PAM and impurities BA binding site 

the selective enrichment of the target analyte was successfully demonstrated using the imprinted polymer. Conventional SPE sometimes needs to be combined with a different type of SPE or other separation steps to complete pre-purification, because compounds with similar chemical properties may accompany the analyte as impurities. On the other hand, imprinted polymer is an affinity-type SPE sorbent that exhibits specificity for an analyte therefore, the imprinted polymer-based SPE is able to streamline the whole procedure of analysis. Although aqueous conditions were employed here, it is also notable that the utility in organic solvents is one of the useful characteristics of imprinted polymers as SPE sorbents [18,19]. 

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