Environmental Samples

Fontanals et al. [127] synthesized and applied crosslinked polymer-supported imidazolium trifluoroacetate salt [MI<sup>+</sup>][CF3COO−] as the SPE sorbent for the extraction of salicylic acid, carbamazepine, nalidixic acid, flumequine, gemfibrozil and four NSAIDs from aqueous samples. In the study, the developed IL-sorbent was tested under weak anion exchange (WAX), strong anion exchange (SAX) and strong cation exchange (SCX) as well as reversed-phase (RP) SPE conditions. The best purification and extraction results of acidic pharmaceuticals from di fferent water samples (ultrapure, tap, river water and e ffluent wastewater) were obtained when the IL-based SAX material was applied. In the next study, two new imidazolium supported IL phases possessing di fferent anions such as [CF3(SO3)] and [BF4], were synthesized and applied as SPE-SAX sorbents for the isolation of acidic pharmaceuticals from water samples [128]. The obtained data indicated that [MI+][CF3(SO3)] and the previously developed [MI<sup>+</sup>][CF3COO−]-SAX sorbent gave comparable results, whereas [MI+][BF4] was not able to e ffectively extract and purify the acidic pharmaceuticals from environmental samples. On the other hand, the application of [MI+][CF3(SO3)] allowed only comparable e fficiency to be obtained and calculated after using the commercially available Oasis MAX column, whereas [MI<sup>+</sup>][CF3COO−] was slightly more e ffective. Hydrophilic ciprofloxacin molecularly imprinted polymer material containing 1-allyl-3-vinylimidazole chloride ([AViMIM][Cl]) IL and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate as a bifunctional monomer was synthesized by Zhu and co-workers [129]. This MIP material was able to create strong hydrogen bonds, and electrostatic and π-π dipole interactions with ciprofloxacin in an aqueous solution. It o ffered excellent molecular recognition for common quinolone antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin and pefloxacin mesylate) in aqueous matrices as well as the selective isolation and separation of trace amounts of ciprofloxacin in real water, soil and pork samples, with recoveries of 87.3–102.5%.
