Determination of Chlorogenic Acid in a Herbal Medicinal Product with Preconcentration by Ionic Liquid-Modified Magnetic Nanoparticles and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have been widely used in herbal analysis, and potential ionic liquid-based MNPs are expected in similar applications. In this study, the new functional Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles combined with a previously unreported ionic liquid were synthesized by three methods and used to enrich chlorogenic acid from aqueous solution and crude herbal extracts for the first time. The combination of pyrrole cation and proline anion immobilized on Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles had higher immobilized concentrations and ideal morphology, which can be easily adsorbed and recovered by an external magnetic field from the nanosuspension. When the mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and 0.5% phosphate aqueous solution (3:22, v:v) was used on a C₁₈ chromatographic column (4.6?×?250?mm, 5?µm) at 25°C, the concentration of chlorogenic acid in herbal product was determined to be 7.01?mg/g. The validation indicated the method had good linearity, recovery, repeatability, and precision. These results show that the ionic liquid has been chemically bonded to the magnetic nanoparticles through the developed procedures and may be effectively used for the high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of chlorogenic acid in herbal products.