Determination of Chloramphenicol in Honey and Royal Jelly by Sample Clean-up with Molecular Imprinted Polymer

A sample clean-up method that employs a molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) was examined for potential use in the residual analysis of chloramphenicol (CAP) in honey and royal jelly. The clean-up effect of MIP was compared with that of conventional reversed-phase solid-phase extraction (SPE). Measurements for evaluating the clean-up efficiency were conducted by LC/UV, LC/MS or enzymed-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). LC/UV measurements of a sample after SPE yielded interference peaks originating from impurities on the chromatograms. The recovery was approximately 80 % for honey and 75 % for royal jelly. LC/MS measurements of a sample cleaned up with MIP showed no interference peaks due to the matrix effect. In addition, ELISA conducted on a sample cleaned up with MIP revealed that MIP suppressed interference by impurities in the antigen-antibody reaction. The developed sample clean-up method with MIP was able to remove impurities in dark honey and royal jelly, and is expected to be useful for the determination of residual CAP in live-stock products.