Measurement of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons by using Molecularly Imprinted Polymers

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) comprise a large group of organic compounds whose molecular structure contain two or more fused aromatic rings; they are usually formed during the incomplete combustion of organic substances. Because of their low water-solubility and hydrophobic nature, PAHs tend to be associated with material in suspended and bed sediments. Due to its nature, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a ubiquitous pollutant and food can be contaminated with PAHs present in air, soil and water. Benzofajpyrene (BaP) is one of the most carcinogenic Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and it is usually an indicator of the presence of other PAHs. On the other hand, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) based sensors are a new way to measure PAHs. These polymers are made using the molecule to be measured measure as a template that is removed at the final stage of the preparation of the sensor. The resulting cavities have the shape of the molecule to be detected and thus, the selectivity of these sensors is high. In this paper, a MIP sensor is presented and evaluated by measuring BaP in water by using a simple prototype. The system is based on measuring the phosphorescence intensity of the light emitted by the BaP when excited with UV light.