Synthesis and Characterization of Dummy Template‐Based Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Extraction of Aflatoxins in Food Samples

MIPs have great potential for the selective adsorption of aflatoxins, due to their tailored binding sites. However, their synthesis using aflatoxins as templates is potentially hazardous and expensive. A viable solution to this challenge is to use dummy templates instead. Several dummy templates have been investigated for the synthesis of MIPs for aflatoxins. However, these studies have been conducted under varying conditions and by different research groups, resulting in a lack of systematic comparison. This makes it difficult to identify the optimal dummy template. In this study, five dummy templates and two functional monomers were evaluated to synthesize highly selective MIPs for aflatoxins. The polymers were produced through precipitation polymerization. FTIR, TGA, and SEM were employed to evaluate the structure, stability, and morphology of the material. The adsorption ability of the MIP and NIP was analyzed using LC-MS/MS. The findings revealed that MIPs synthesized using DMC exhibited the highest binding efficiency. In addition, MIPs created with functional monomers methacrylic acid (MAA) and methacrylamide (MAM) demonstrated similar adsorption abilities for aflatoxins. The adsorption process of the MIP is best described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacities were measured at 8.13, 7.50, 8.38, and 7.63 mg/g for AFB₁, AFB₂, AFG₁, and AFG₂, respectively.