Two molecular imprinting polymers (MIPs) based on solution and suspension polymerization were prepared with 1-(N,N-bis-carboxymethyl)amino-3-allylglycerol and N,N-dimethylacrylamide as functional monomers, and copper ion-cefuroxime sodium complex as the template. The imprinted polymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, elemental analysis, Brunauer, Emmett and Teller method and scanning electron microscopy. The effects of the analytical parameters such as sample pH, contact time on sorption capacity of the polymeric sorbent and interfering drugs were investigated and compared for both polymers with different polymerization methods. The imprinted polymer sorbent was selective for the template. The profile of cefuroxime sodium uptake by the both sorbents reflects good accessibility of the active sites in the imprinted polymer sorbents. The equilibrium adsorption data of cefuroxime sodium on polymeric sorbents were analyzed by Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Redlich-Peterson isotherm models. The developed method was utilized for determination of cefuroxime sodium in pharmaceutical and fluids biological samples like human plasma and urine by high performance liquid chromatography with satisfactory results. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.