A molecularly imprinted polymer for the pesticide bentazone

Polymers able to bind the pesticide bentazone were prepared by utilising the technique of the non-covalent molecular imprinting polymerisation and using different molar ratios of methacrylic acid and 4-vinylpyridine as interacting monomers. Polymers obtained were packed in HPLC columns and the imprinting effect was studied using chloroform and acetonitrile as mobile phase. The polymer obtained from equimolar amounts of methacrylic acid and 4-vinylpyridine was found to recognise bentazone better than other polymers, both in chloroform and acetonitrile. The bentazone capacity for this stationary phase was studied considering aqueous buffers with different pH values and ionic strengths. A preliminary procedure of solid phase extraction was tested on aqueous samples containing a fixed amount of bentazone. Good recoveries (91–96%) and concentration factors of 3.2–15.2 were found.