A uniformly sized molecularly imprinted polymer for the peripheral vasodilator drug tolazoline (T-MIP) was prepared, and a nonimprinted polymer (NIP) was also synthesized in the same way but in the absence of the template. The T-MIP was prepared with methylacrylic acid as functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinker by a multistep swelling and polymerization method. These imprinted materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption, and static adsorption experiments. Binding studies were also performed to evaluate the uptake of T-MIP and NIP with the results that T-MIP had a significantly higher binding capacity for tolazoline (T) than did NIP. The maximum static adsorption capacities of T-MIP and NIP for T were 78.9 and 38.8 mu mol/g, respectively. The T-MIPs and NIPs were used as stationary phases of solid-phase extraction (SPE), and a relative selectivity coefficient (k') value of 5.21 was obtained, which showed that the T-MIP sorbent had higher selectivity than the NIP sorbent. The method was applied to the determination of T in urine samples. The prepared polymer sorbent showed promise for SPE for gas chromatography determination of T in urine samples. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 115: 198-203, 2010