Development of a molecularly imprinted microspheres-based microplate fluorescence method for detection of amantadine and rimantadine in chicken

In this study, molecularly imprinted microspheres of a type capable of recognising amantadine and rimantadine were first synthesised, and three fluorescent tracers based on dansyl chloride, fluorescein isothiocyanate and 5-carboxytetramethylrhodamine were also synthesised. These reagents were used to develop and optimise a direct competitive fluorescence method on conventional 96-well microplate for detection of the two analytes. Results showed that this method achieved simple operation procedure, rapid assay process (30 min), high sensitivity (limits of detection 0.04-0.05 ng mL(-1)) and acceptable recycle performance (five times). After optimisation of several parameters, this method was used to detect amantadine and rimantadine in chicken muscle samples. Their recoveries from standards fortified blank samples were in the range of 62.3-93.7%. The analysis results for some real chicken samples were consistent with a confirmatory LC-MS/MS method. Therefore, this method could be used as a rapid, simple and accurate tool for routine screening the residues of amantadine and rimantadine in a large number of chicken muscle samples.

Automated summary

This study successfully synthesized molecularly imprinted microspheres capable of recognizing amantadine and rimantadine, and developed a highly sensitive and easy-to-use fluorescence detection method for rapid screening of these compounds in chicken muscle samples. The method showed high sensitivity, simple operation, and good recovery rates, making it a promising tool for routine residue screening of amantadine and rimantadine in large quantities of chicken muscle samples.