Synthesis and evaluation of molecularly imprinted polymeric microspheres for highly selective extraction of an anti-AIDS drug emtricitabine.

The molecularly imprinted polymeric microspheres (MIPMs, 3~5 μm), used as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) packing materials for anti-AIDS drug emtricitabine (FTC), were synthesized by precipitation polymerization. The effects of ratio of chloroform to acetonitrile on the morphology and diameter of MIPMs were investigated. The prepared MIPMs were characterized by HPLC. The imprinting factor (2.26) suggests that the resultant MIPMs exhibit good recognition and affinity to FTC. In addition, the MIPMs were used in SPE as packing material for separation and enrichment of FTC. The recovery of FTC on MIPMs cartridge was 97.6 % in standard solution. Finally, the MIPMs cartridge was applied to extract the FTC in human serum samples. Impurities in sample have been mostly removed, and the average recovery of 92.5 % was obtained with a detection limit of 0.005 μg/mL and a linear range of 0.02~4.0 μg/mL. The method established can be used to monitor the FTC in human serum sample with good accuracy and selectivity.