synthesis of a novel molecularly imprinted polymer based on functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes for selective extraction of sulfadiazine prior to spectrophotometric determination

A novel and efficient sulfadiazine imprinted polymer was synthesized via co-precipitation method and successfully grafted on magnetic multi-walled carbon nanotubes. the synthesized magnetic imprinted polymer was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray powder diffraction analysis, thermal analysis and applied as a sorbent for selective magnetic solid-phase extraction of sulfadiazine. the retained sulfadiazine was eluted by 150.0 µl methanol/acetic acid (6:4) solution and quantified by fiber optic linear array spectrophotometry via formation of a detectable azo dye. all parameters affecting the extraction of sulfadiazine were investigated and optimized. under the optimized conditions, the method exhibited a linear dynamic range of 2.0–50.0 µg l−1 with a detection limit of 0.56 µg l−1 and enrichment factor of 300.0. the relative standard deviation at 30.0 µg l−1 of sulfadiazine (n = 6) was 2.8 and 4.6% for intra-day and inter-day, respectively. the method was successfully applied to determine sulfadiazine in human urine, honey, milk and environmental water samples.