Dummy molecularly imprinted polymers （DMIPs） for 4-（methylnitrosamino）-1-（3-pyridyl）-1-butanol （NNAL） were produced using three structural analogues as dummy template molecules. The chosen analogues were 4-（acetymethylamino）-1-（3-pyridyl）-butanol, 4- （methylamino）-1-（3-pyridyl）-1-butanol, and 1-（3-pyridyl）-1,4,-butanediol. The molecular recognition characteristics of the produced polymers were evaluated by X-ray photoelec- tron spectroscopy （XPS） and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FT-IR）. Interactions between NNAL and methacrylic acid should be cooperative hydrogen bonds while the ni- trogen atom of the pyridine ring and the oxygen atom of the nitroso group in NNAL are two of the hydrogen-bond acceptors. It was further demonstrated that DMIP synthesized by 4-（acetymethylamino）-1-（3-pyridyl）-butanol had the best binding performance by XPS and FT-IR. Then dummy molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction （DMISPE） was developed for the determination of the analyte using the hit polymer as the sorbing material. Under optimal conditions, the recovery of NNAL dissolved in standard solution reached 93%. And the investigated polymer exhibited much higher binding of NNAL when nicotine was acted as the competitive molecule. Also the proposed method was applied to the measurement of NNAL spiked in blank urine samples with recoveries ranging from 87.2% to 101.2%.
