## 1 Introduction
During this process, functional and cross-linking monomers are polymerised or co-polymerised in the presence of an imprint molecule, called a molecular template [19]. During the synthesis, functional monomers form a complex with template molecule while the highly cross-linked polymeric backbone helps to keep functional groups in specific positions. After polymerisation, imprinted molecules are subsequently removed from the matrix, leaving cavities with an affinity to a chosen template. In that way, the polymer matrix keeps the molecular memory of the analytes and it can be used in their molecular recognition [20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29]. As a reference, non-molecularly imprinted polymers (NIPs) without the template are used, following the same synthesis procedure as for MIPs, except in the absence of a template. Therefore, NIPs have the same composition as MIPs but without the presence of any specific cavity. Therefore, the nature of the interactions developed between MIPs and the template is the same as those developed between NIPs and the template, while the difference between these two types of polymers is the strength of these interactions. If the cavities created during the polymerisation are well defined, the strength of the interactions in MIPs should be significantly better than those in NIPs. The retention properties of the synthesised polymers can be established based on the adsorption capacity and the mechanism of the adsorption of target analytes onto the surface of the polymeric material. One of the methods widely used to define these binding properties is the determination of adsorption isotherms. The Langmuir-Freundlich isotherms (LF) can model the adsorption of an adsorbate in MIPs and NIPs along with homogeneous and heterogeneous distributions in high and low concentrations of analytes [30; 31]. MIPs have already proved their efficiency in selective preconcentration and measurements of endocrine disruptors in complex samples, such as ground water, milk, and serum [32; 33; 34; 35]. In the detection of BPA, MIPs were used in several different formats, e.g., as a stationary phase in the capillary electrophoresis [31], superparamagnetic surface modified nanoparticles [36], or bulk materials combined with liquid chromatography-mass detection [37]. Despite many attempts of the synthesis and application of MIPs, they always suffered from low performance, complicated data analysis, and high batch variability. Similar problems were related to the separation and quantification of PG, e.g., using MIPs combined with SPE and HPLC [33], as hydrogels [38], or in the application of MIPs in electrochemical sensors, hydrogels [39; 40], and optical biosensors [41]. Therefore, in our work we tried to enhance the synthesis and the performance of MIPs by the optimisation of different parameters during polymerisation, such as the concentration of the cross-linker, solvent, and template ratio. The preliminary work was performed in order to detect and quantify BPA and PG in water samples. Additionally, our objective was to contribute to the growing area of research involving imprinting polymers. Therefore, the purpose of the work was to use MIPs as a new highly efficient sorbent which could be applied in solid phase extraction. First part of the work involved testing a variety of functional monomers to select that most suitable for the polymerisation of the MIPs for BPA and PG (see Supplementary Materials). After that, it was necessary to perform a brief experimental design in order to optimise all variables that affect the process of the retention of target molecules, based on the maximum adsorption capacity using adsorption isotherms and kinetic studies. The optimal designs were generated in MODDE software, which enabled us to screen and optimise experimental variables due to the integrated cross-validated model fitting, model fit visualisations, and predictive capabilities [42; 43; 44].