Molecularly imprinted electrospun nanofibre membrane assisted stir bar sorptive extraction for trace analysis of sulfonamides from animal feeds

A reusable MIM-based SBSE method that features simple operation and high extraction efficiency was developed, and can be applied for determination of SAs in animal feeds. [Display omitted] •Molecularly imprinted membrane (MIM) was firstly synthesized by electro-spinning technique.•A reusable MIM-based stir bar sorptive extraction method was developed for determination of sulfonamides (SAs).•Class-selectivity and high adsorption capacity for SAs was achieved. The widespread addition of sulfa antibiotics in feeds has long been an environment safety issue. Therefore, it is quite meaningful to constantly propose better solutions for determining the sulfa antibiotics in the environment. Herein, molecularly imprinted electrospun nanofibre membrane (MIM) assisted stir bar sorptive extraction method for the determination sulfonamides (SAs) in feed was developed. In this study, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were firstly prepared via emulsion polymerization using sulfamonomethoxine as template. Then, the morphology-controllable MIM was obtained with MIPs-doping electro-spinning solution using electro-spinning technique. Next, MIM are coated on the magnetic stir bar by heat-sealing. Finally, MIM coated stir bar was used for selective enrichment of SAs. The obtained MIM exhibited excellent class selectivity towards SAs (the selectivity factor β is 2.3–2.7). The MIM coated stir bar can be directly applied to extract SAs from feed samples. Under the optimum extraction conditions, the detection limit of the method could reach 1.5−3.4ng/g. And satisfactory recoveries ranging from 80±6% to 89±7% were achieved under all three spiked levels for determination of four SAs in five different feed samples. The present work not only offers insights to develop magnetic stir bar using imprinted membrane, but also provides a new method for SAs extraction.