Abstract: In this work, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) using the mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEA) as template were first synthesized via precipitation polymerization and then applied as specific adsorbents in molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) cartridges. The MISPE procedure was optimized with 3 mL of acetonitrile for preconditioning, 1 mL of acetonitrile:H2O (60:40) for loading, 1 mL of acetonitrile:H2O (30:70), and 3 mL of methanol:acetic acid (95:5) for elution. The obtained MIPs showed high selectivity of 96.9% towards ZEA, and low cross-reactivity (1-20%) to other Fusarium mycotoxins including deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, HT-2 toxin and T-2 toxin. The cross-reactivity to fumonisin B1 amounted to 61%. The MISPE was applied for enrichment of ZEA, which was produced by Fusarium graminearum strains. An enrichment factor above 50 was reached. Recoveries of 1 μg/mL were between 90.8% and 99.6%. A small amount of ZEA was produced by 9 F. graminearum strains with a maximum of 13 μg, then purified by the developed MISPE and analyzed by LC-MS/MS.
Template and target information: zearalenone, ZEA
Author keywords: Molecularly imprinted polymers, Mycotoxin production, precipitation polymerization, zearalenone

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