Preparation and Performance of an Estradiol Templated Magnetic Sphere of Molecularly Imprinted Cryogel

An estradiol templated core-shell magnetic molecularly imprinted cryogel (MMIC) was synthesized to selectively extract and analyze estradiol in milk powder. The microsphere of Fe3O4@SiO2 was firstly prepared on Fe3O4 with ethyl silicate and 3-methyl propyl trimethoxy silane. Then the polymerization of α-methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethyl acrylate was carried out on Fe3O4@SiO2 at −20 ºC for 24 h with estradiol as template. The morphology and microstructure of MMIC were investigated by transmission electron microscopy and infrared spectrogram. When used as chromatographic stationary phase, MMIC showed good selectivity and chromatographic performance for the template. Spiked milk powder samples were used to examine the adsorption capacity and selectivity of MMIC, giving recoveries of 92-101% and limit of detection 0.8-1.2 ng g−1. Experimental results indicate good reproducibility with relative standard deviation from 2.2 to 4.5% (n = 3) at spiked levels of estradiol 10, 50, and 100 ng g-1.