Novel cyromazine imprinted polymer applied to the solid-phase extraction of melamine from feed and milk samples

A water compatible molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) using cyromazine as a mimic template, methacrylic acid as the functional polymer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the cross-linker was synthesized and used to extract melamine from feed and milk samples via a molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) protocol. Optimum retention of melamine on the MISPE cartridge was achieved using methanol, and the interferences in the samples were effectively washed out. The binding capacity of the polymer toward melamine was found to be about 500 μg of melamine/g of polymer. The recoveries of 2 μg and 20 μg melamine standard spiked into water extract of blank feeds and milk samples were between 83.4% and 103%, with relative standard deviation <5.6%. The cyromazine-MIP demonstrated high cross-reactivity for melamine and low affinity to cyanuric acid. The ionic bond interaction was regarded as the main factors that dominated the retention of the melamine on the MISPE cartridge.