Synthesis of magnetic nanocomposite based on molecularly imprinted polymer and its performance evaluation as adsorbents in the analysis of antibiotic cephalexin

In this research, a novel magnetic nanocomposite was synthesized based on molecularly imprinted polymer [1]. The composite of magnetic carbon nanotubes @ gold nanoparticles (MCNs@AuNPs) was first synthesized using coprecipitation and self-assembly technique. Then the template molecules cephalexin were absorbed at the MCNs@AuNPs surface due to their excellent affinity, and subsequently, methacrylic acid, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate and azodiisobutyronitrile were used as the functional monomer, cross-linking agent and initiator of the imprinting polymerization, respectively at the MCN@AuNPs surface. This synthesis was confirmed by analysis methods of SEM and FT-IR. Applied MCNs@AuNPs-MIPs as a sorbent, a magnetic solid phase dispersion method coupled with high performance liquid chromatography was developed for the determination of cephalexin in aqueous solutions [2]. Main factors affecting the extraction process were studied and optimized .Detection was carried out using a UV detector at 262 nm. The linearity of this method was in the range 0.1-150 µg mL-1, responding to R2 = 0.996.