A highly sensitive tetracycline sensor based on a combination of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles and surface plasmon resonance detection

A method is reported for in-situ detection of the antibiotic tetracycline (TC). It is based on a combination of extraction of TC by magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers nanoparticles (MMIPs NPs) and detection by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The TC-captured MMIPs NPs were flowed over the surface of the SPR chip that was modified with mercaptoethylamine. The SPR signal undergoes a strong increase through the use of MMIPs NPs. It increases linearly in the 5.0–100 pg·mL −1 TC concentration range, and the detection limit is as low as 1.0 pg·mL −1 (at S/N = 3). This method shows selectivity to TC compared with structurally analogues. In order to demonstrate the power of the method, it was applied to the analysis of milk spiked with TC. These results were validated by comparing them to those of an enzyme-linked immunoassay. The average recovery is in the range of 95.7–104.6%. Graphical abstract Schematic representation of a surface plasmon resonance assay for the sensitive determination of tetracycline in milk using the magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers nanoparticles that can extract tetracycline and amplify the SPR signal.