title: Development of suspension polymerized molecularly imprinted beads with metergoline as template and application in a solid-phase extraction procedure toward ergot alkaloids.
abstract: The first successfully developed molecularly imprinted polymer toward six ergot alkaloids and their respective epimers is described. A new imprinting molecule, metergoline, was used as template analogue in the production of suspension polymerized beads. These spherical particles functioned as selective sorbent in a solid-phase extraction column. The application of this column in the cleanup of barley samples prior to liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry allowed simple and cost-efficient sample preparation. The performance of the imprinted polymer and a non-imprinted control polymer was evaluated. This includes determination of the recovery values and the matrix effect of each of the 12 tested ergot alkaloids as well as a cross-reactivity study with 25 common mycotoxins. The binding isotherms were obtained for metergoline, thus allowing comparison with other (imprinted) sorbents. A comparison between bulk and suspension polymerization is provided to determine the appropriate production technique.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Food Analysis, Ghent University, Belgium. pieterjan.lenain@ugent.be
authors.forename: Pieterjan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lenain
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Diana Di Mavungu
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dubruel
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Robbens
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Saeger