title: Optical detection of chloramphenicol using molecularly imprinted polymers.
abstract: A practical optical sensing system for the determination of chloramphenicol (CAP), utilizing molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and HPLC, has been developed. The method is based on competitive displacement of a chloramphenicol-methyl red (CAP-MR) dye conjugate from specific binding cavities in an imprinted polymer by the analyte. The best of these polymers was obtained using (diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate as functional monomer at a monomer:template ratio of 2:1. HPLC with a mobile phase containing CAP-MR was used as the detection system, and injection of CAP and, to a lesser degree, thiamphenicol resulted in proportional displacement of the conjugate, which was detected at 460 nm. The detection system showed a linear response over a range of 3-1000 μg/mL and effectively detected CAP extracted from serum. This system offers a tailor-made, selective, and rapid method for CAP detection, is able to discriminate between similar molecules, and is effective below and above the therapeutic range (10-20 μg/mL serum, potentially toxic above 25 μg/mL). This technique is quite general and should enable the use of MIPs in a wide variety of applications involving the detection of families of molecules which possess a distinct arrangement of functional groups.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153, Japan.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Levi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McNiven
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Piletsky
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Cheong
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karube