On-line solid-phase extraction with molecularly imprinted polymers to selectively extract substituted 4-chlorophenols and 4-nitrophenol from water

Three polymers have been synthesised using 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) as the template, following different protocols (non-covalent and semi-covalent) and using different functional co-monomers, 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP) and methacrylic acid (MAA). The polymers were evaluated to check their selectivity as molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) in solid-phase extraction (SPE) coupled on-line to liquid chromatography. The solid-phase extraction procedure using MIPs (MISPE), including the clean-up step to remove any interferences, was optimised. The 4-VP non-covalent polymer was the only one which showed a clear imprint effect. This MIP also showed cross-reactivity for the 4-chloro-substituted phenols and for 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) from a mixture containing the 11 priority EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) phenolic compounds and 4-chlorophenol. The MIP was applied to selectively extract the 4-chloro-substituted compounds and 4-NP from river water samples.     

Molecularly imprinted polymer for solid-phase extraction of rutin in complicated traditional Chinese medicines

In the present work, an improved and direct approach for the preparation of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) was proposed. The MIPs were prepared based on bulk polymerization by water-bath heating and ultrasonic elution of the template, using rutin as the template, acrylamide (AM) as the functional monomer and 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the cross linker. Molecularly imprinted polymers prepared by other elution methods, including microwave-assisted extraction and conventional Soxhlet extraction, were used for comparison and the results showed that the ultrasonic elution method is the best. The synthesized MIPs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to evaluate the adsorption properties and recognition mechanism of the MIPs. Structurally similar compounds including quercetin and genistein were utilized for verifying the molecular selectivity and characterizing the recognition capability of the MIPs. The MIPs were used as a sorbent for the solid phase extraction of rutin, and the resultant cartridge showed a good extraction performance. Thus, a molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) procedure for selective pre-concentration of rutin from complicated traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) samples was proposed. Various elution parameters that affect the adsorption capacity of the polymer were evaluated to optimize the selective pre-concentration of rutin. The characteristics of the MISPE method were validated by HPLC. The recoveries ranged from 85% to 91% for TCMs, which demonstrated that this MISPE-HPLC method could be applied to pre-concentrate and determinate rutin directly from complicated TCM samples in the presence of other interfering substances.     

Synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers via ring-opening metathesis polymerization for solid-phase extraction of bisphenol A

The use of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) prepared by ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) for bisphenol A (BPA) was reported in this article. The resulting MIPs have high imprinting and adsorption capacities, and can be used for separation and determination of BPA in environmental water samples. The successful application of ROMP in the molecular imprinting field is described here. For the first time, two cross-linkers (dicyclopentadiene and 2,5-norbornadiene) and two Grubbs catalysts (first and second generation) were investigated to compare their effects on the binding performance of MIPs. The ROMP technique is able to create the imprinted polymers within 1 h under mild conditions. Furthermore, it can provide MIPs with obvious imprinting effects towards the template, very fast template rebinding kinetics, high binding capacity and appreciable selectivity over structurally related compounds. The adsorption process for MIPs in this study can be completed within 45 min, which is much faster than that of bulk MIPs synthesized by traditional free-radical polymerization. The resulting imprinting polymer was evaluated for its use as a sorbent support in an off-line solid-phase extraction approach to recover BPA from diluted aqueous samples. The optimized extraction protocol resulted in a reliable MISPE method suitable for selective extraction and preconcentration of BPA from tap water, human urine and liquid milk samples. This article demonstrates the practical feasibility of the MIPs prepared via ROMP as solid-phase extraction materials.     

Phenolic acids analysis in ligusticum chuanxiong using HPLC

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method with diode array UV detection is developed for the determination of five kinds of phenolic acids common in herbal medicines. Based on this method, ferulic acid and caffeic acid are found to be two main phenolic acids in Chuanxiong (one of the important crude drugs in traditional Chinese medicine). More important, ferulic acid is found to exist in free form, and caffeic acid--a previously unreported component--is found to exist in esterified or insoluble-bound form.     

Ultrasound-assisted extraction of phenolic antioxidants from Acacia confusa flowers and buds

Acacia confusa Merr. (Leguminosae), a species native to Taiwan, is widely distributed on the hills and lowlands of Taiwan, and has been used in traditional medicines. In this study, the application of ultrasound-assisted extraction was used to extract the phenolic compounds from A. confusa flowers and buds for the first time. Among the extraction methods, it can significantly enhance the contents of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities in A. confusa flower and bud extracts using ultrasound-assisted extraction (10 min×12 times). Considering both the solvent consumption and the time needed for extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction was found to be the most practical approach for the rapid and efficient extraction of bioactive phenolic constituents. In addition, gallic acid, myricitrin-3-rhamnoside, quercitrin-3-rhamnoside, europetin-3-rhamnoside, kaempferol-3-rhamnoside, rhamnetin-3-glucoside, and rhamnetin-3-rhamnoside were also quantified in different extracts by RP-HPLC. It is clear that ultrasound-assisted extraction is an efficient method for extracting phenolic compounds from A. confusa flowers and buds.     

Selective sample treatment using molecularly imprinted polymers

The molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are synthetic polymers possessing specific cavities designed for a target molecule. By a mechanism of molecular recognition, the MIPs are used as selective sorbents for the solid-phase extraction of target analytes from complex matrices. MIPs are often called synthetic antibodies in comparison with immuno-based sorbents; they offer some advantages including easy, cheap and rapid preparation and high thermal and chemical stability. This review describes the use of MIPs in solid-phase extraction with emphasis on their synthesis, the various parameters affecting the selectivity of the extraction, their potential to selectively extract analytes from complex aqueous samples or organic extracts, their on-line coupling with LC and their potential in miniaturized devices.     

Selective extraction of derivates of p-hydroxy-benzoic acid from plant material by using a molecularly imprinted polymer

Selective SPE of derivates of p-hydroxybenzoic acid (pHBA) from plant extract of Melissa officinalis is presented using a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) made with protocatechuic acid (PA) as template molecule. MIP was prepared with acrylamide as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinking monomer and ACN as porogen. MIP was evaluated towards six phenolic acids: PA, gallic acid, pHBA, vanillic acid (VA), gentisic acid (GeA) and syringic acid (SyrA), and then steps of molecularly imprinted SPE (MISPE) procedure were optimized. The best specific binding capacity of MIP was obtained for PA in ACN (34.7 microg/g of MIP). Other tested acids were also bound on MIP if they were dissolved in this solvent. ACN was chosen as solvent for sample application. M. officinalis was extracted into methanol/water (4:1, v/v), the extract was then evaporated to dryness and dissolved in ACN before application on MIP. Water and ACN were used as washing solvents and elution of benzoic acids was performed by means of a mixture methanol/acetic acid (9:1, v/v). pHBA, GA, PA and VA were extracted with recoveries of 56.3-82.1% using this MISPE method. GeA was not determined in plant extract.     

石杉碱甲分子印迹聚合物的制备、表征及其吸附性能

以硅胶为牺牲载体,石杉碱甲为模板分子,甲基丙烯酸为功能单体,二乙烯基苯为交联剂,偶氮二异丁腈为引发剂,首次制备了石杉碱甲分子印迹聚合物,并用红外光谱、扫描电子显微镜和热重分析研究了印迹聚合物的结构特征,用静态吸附法和Scatchard分析法研究了印迹聚合物的识别效能和表面位点分布特征。 结果表明,石杉碱甲印迹聚合物对模板分子具有较好的选择吸附性能,选择系数为1.399。Scatchard分析表明,印迹聚合物基体中主要存有两类吸附位点,对高亲和位点：平衡离解常数Kd1=0.776 g/L,最大表观结合量Qmax1=0.213 mg/g;对低亲和位点：平衡离解常数Kd2=0.169 g/L,最大表观结合量Qmax2=0.832 mg/g。 当该聚合物用于微固相萃取蛇足石杉粗提液中的石杉碱甲时,石杉碱甲回收率为93.5%,显示了较好的富集效果。     

Molecularly imprinted layer-coated monodisperse spherical silica microparticles toward affinity-enrichment of isoflavonoid glycosides from Radix puerariae

This paper reports the preparation of puerarin (PR) imprinted layer-coated silica microparticles toward selective recognition of PR and fast affinity-enrichment of the main isoflavonoid glycosides from the crude extract of Radix puerariae. Before the preparation, quantum mechanics (QM) method was applied to identify three kinds of common functional monomers capable of interaction with PR and then predicted optimal functional monomer (acrylamide, AA) and the relative molar ratio of template to functional monomer (PR/AA, 1:4). The obtained PR-imprinted silica microparticles were evaluated by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and rebinding experiments, exhibiting good morphology and high binding affinity to PR. Meanwhile, the rebinding amount of the imprinted microparticles to PR was nearly 2.1-folds that of non-imprinted microparticles. When the PR-imprinted microspheres were used as packing materials for solid-phase extraction, the recovery yields of PR, daidzin (DD) and genistin (GS) were simultaneously up to 90% by one-step extraction from the crude extract of Radix puerariae. Additionally, the PR-imprinted microparticles could be re-used for at least 5 times without losing any extraction efficiency. These results indicate that the PR-imprinted microparticles have highly selective adsorption capabilities to PR, DD and GS from the crude extract of Radix puerariae. The method of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) coupled with solid-phase extraction (SPE) provides a good solution of the enrichment and separation of active extracts from complicated traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with certain structures.     

Screening of lipase inhibitors in Folium Mori with lipase‐linked magnetic microspheres by high‐performance liquid chromatography and evaluation in diabetic mice

A new method for the screening of compounds with hypoglycemic effect from traditional Chinese medicines employing high‐performance liquid chromatography and lipase‐linked magnetic microspheres has been proposed. We hypothesized that the interaction of traditional Chinese medicine extracts with lipase‐linked magnetic microspheres should decrease the concentration of compounds with hypoglycemic effect. Using this approach, the potential lipase inhibitors in Folium Mori extract were investigated. First, lipase was immobilized on magnetic microspheres by a chemical method. Then, by comparing the chromatograms of samples before and after the interaction with lipase‐linked magnetic microspheres, seven compounds of Folium Mori extract were identified. It was found that protocatechuic acid, chlorogenic acid, protocatechualdehyde, rutin, isoquercitrin, astragalin, and dicaffeoylquinic acid B had evident combination with lipase‐linked magnetic microspheres. Their hypoglycemic effects were verified in streptozocin‐induced diabetic mice. In the present study, astragalin was verified to improve the glucose tolerance and lower the level of glucose in streptozocin‐induced diabetic mice, which indicated that astragalin might be a new highly efficient lipase inhibitor. Based on these significant results, this method could be a convenient approach to screen potential lipase inhibitors from traditional Chinese medicines. Meanwhile, it also could be expanded to screen other active compounds in traditional Chinese medicines.     

Extraction of flavonoids from Rhodiola sachlinesis A. Bor by UPE and the antioxidant activity of its extract

Rhodiola sachlinesis, A. Bor is one of the most popular traditional Chinese medicines and has been proved to have many effective compounds, such as flavonoids, anthraglycosides, essential oil with cinnamic aldehyde and citral and organic acids. In this article, a new method of ultrahigh pressure extraction (UPE) was used to extract flavonoids from R. sachlinesis. Uniform Design was employed to get the optimum extraction conditions. The optimum UPE conditions were as follows: pressure was 500 MPa; ethanol concentration was 40%; solid/liquid ratio (g mL(-1)) was 1 : 70. The optimum extraction yield of flavonoids was 52.33 mg g(-1). The antioxidant activity of the crude extract was tested with DPPH assay. It showed a higher activity, compared with tertiary butyhydroquinone (TBHQ) at the same concentration (1 mg mL(-1)).     

Two-phase/Three-phase Hollow Fibre Liquid-Phase Simultaneous Microextraction Combined with HPLC for Analysis of Phenolic Acids and Flavonoids in Traditional Chinese Medicine

A two-phase/three-phase hollow fibre liquid-phase simultaneous microextraction (2p/3p-HF-LPSME) method, coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography and ultraviolet detection, was developed and introduced for simultaneous extraction and determination of phenolic acids and flavonoids in Lonicera japonica, Herba Taraxaci and Cortex Eucommiae. Several factors affecting performance were investigated and optimized, including the type of hollow fibre liquid-phase microextraction, extraction solvent, pHs of the sample and acceptor phases, extraction time, stirring rate, salt concentration in the sample solution and volume of sample phase. Under optimised conditions, the enrichment factors of 2p/3p-HF-LPSME for analytes ranged from 9 to 171, and good linearities were obtained for all analytes with regression coefficients of between 0.9939 and 0.9996. In addition, the limits of detection were between 0.3 and 4.0 ng·mL⁻¹, and satisfactory recoveries (90.0–106.3 %) and precisions (RSD 2.3–10.4 %) were also achieved. The simultaneous microextraction mechanism of the approach was also analysed and described. Experimental results show that the method is simple, sensitive, practical and effective, and it can be used for simultaneous preconcentration and determination of phenolic acids and flavonoids in traditional Chinese medicines.

     

Fast and comprehensive analysis of secondary metabolites in cocoa products using ultra high‐performance liquid chromatography directly after pressurized liquid extraction

Fast methods for the extraction and analysis of various secondary metabolites from cocoa products were developed and optimized regarding speed and separation efficiency. Extraction by pressurized liquid extraction is automated and the extracts are analyzed by rapid reversed‐phase ultra high‐performance liquid chromatography and normal‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography methods. After extraction, no further sample treatment is required before chromatographic analysis. The analytes comprise monomeric and oligomeric flavanols, flavonols, methylxanthins, N‐phenylpropenoyl amino acids, and phenolic acids. Polyphenols and N‐phenylpropenoyl amino acids are separated in a single run of 33 min, procyanidins are analyzed by normal‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography within 16 min, and methylxanthins require only 6 min total run time. A fourth method is suitable for phenolic acids, but only protocatechuic acid was found in relevant quantities. The optimized methods were validated and applied to 27 dark chocolates, one milk chocolate, two cocoa powders and two food supplements based on cocoa extract.     

多壁碳纳米管表面过氧化苯甲酰印迹复合材料的制备及固相萃取应用

以过氧化苯甲酰(BOP)为模板分子,甲基丙烯酸(MAA)为功能单体,乙二醇二甲基丙烯酸酯(EGDMA)为交联剂,偶氮二异丁腈(AIBN)为引发剂,采用热聚合法在多壁碳纳米管(MWNTs)表面制备印迹聚合物(MWNTs-MIPs)。采用红外和热重分析等技术对聚合物结构进行表征。采用液相色谱考察该分子印迹聚合物对过氧化苯甲酰的吸附特性。结果表明该印迹聚合物对过氧化苯甲酰表现出特异性吸附,该印迹聚合物对模板分子存在一种结合位点,其最大表观结合量为56.20 µmol/g。该印迹聚合物成功应用于固相萃取富集面粉中微量过氧化苯甲酰,浓度富集因子为526。     

Development and application of molecularly imprinted polymers as solid-phase sorbents for erythromycin extraction

Six molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) of erythromycin (ERY) were prepared by noncovalent bulk polymerization using methacrylic acid (MAA) as the functional monomer. On the basis of binding analysis, the MIPs with 1:2 optimum ratio of template to MAA were selected for subsequent scanning electron microscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analyses, which indicated that the MIPs had more convergent porous structures than the nonimprinted polymers. The equilibrium binding experiments showed that the binding sites of MIPs were heterogeneous, with two dissociation constants of 0.005 and 0.63 mg mL⁻¹, respectively. Furthermore, the performance of the MIPs as solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbents was evaluated, and the selectivity analysis showed that the MIPs could recognize ERY with moderate cross-reactivity for other macrolides. The overall investigation of molecularly imprinted SPE for cleanup and enrichment of the ERY in pig muscle and tap water confirmed the feasibility of utilizing the MIPs obtained as specific SPE sorbents for ERY extraction in real samples. Figure Schematic diagram of the preparation and application of the erythromycin imprinted molecularly imprinted polymers Suquan Song and Aibo Wu contributed equally to this work.     

Molecular imprinting‐based micro‐stir bar sorptive extraction for specific analysis of Glibenclamide in herbal dietary supplements

A novel molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) coated micro‐stir bar (MSB) for Glibenclamide (GM) was developed. The MIPs, with GM as template molecular and methacrylic acid as functional monomer, were synthesized at the surface of the silylated MSB that was filled with magnetic core as substrate. Computational simulation was used for the optimal selection of functional monomers and porogen. The thickness of MIPs coating for MSB was about 10 μm, the adsorption and desorption time were about 40 and 20 min, respectively. The MIPs coated MSB possessed mechanical stability, high adsorption capacity, and good selectivity for GM. To achieve the optimum extraction performance, several parameters including extraction and desorption time, stirring rate, extraction and desorption solvent were investigated. A method for the determination of GM in herbal dietary supplements by MIPs coated MSB coupled with HPLC‐UV was established. The results exhibited good linear ranges of 10–6250 μg L^?1 with the low limit of detection of GM (3.05 μg L^?1) and the good recoveries (81.9–101.4%).     

Evaluation of new selective molecularly imprinted polymers prepared by precipitation polymerisation for the extraction of phenylurea herbicides

Three different molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been prepared by precipitation polymerisation using linuron (LIN) or isoproturon (IPN) (phenylurea herbicides) as templates and methacrylic acid (MAA) or trifluormethacrylic acid (TFMAA) as functional monomers. The ability of the different polymers to selectively rebind not only the template but also other phenylurea herbicides has been evaluated. In parallel, the influence of the different templates and functional monomers used during polymers synthesis on the performance of the obtained MIPs was also studied through different rebinding experiments. The experimental binding isotherms were fitted to the Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm allowing to describe the kind of binding sites present in the imprinted polymers under study. It was concluded that TFMAA-based polymer using IPN as template presents the best properties to be used as a selective sorbent for the extraction of phenylurea herbicides.     

Selective extraction of organophosphorus nerve agent degradation products by molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction

The analysis of alkyl alkylphosphonic acids, the degradation products of V and G nerve agents as VX, Sarin or Soman, is an important task for the verification of compliance to the Chemical Weapons Convention. The detection of these contaminants at low concentration levels is often difficult in complex matrices due to the amount of interfering substances. Molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction technique should allow a selective extraction of these compounds from complex samples, and thus make their detection easier. Two molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) prepared with methacrylic acid (MAA) as monomer and pinacolyl methylphosphonic acid (PMPA) as template molecule were synthesised and tested. The first polymer, MIP A, was prepared with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) in dichloromethane. The second polymer, MIP B, was synthesised using trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TRIM) in acetonitrile. To evaluate the selectivity provided by these MIPs, the retention of the ethyl methylphosphonic acid (EMPA) target molecule was studied in parallel on a non-imprinted polymer (NIP). While MIP A does not show any difference compared to NIP A, a good selectivity was obtained for MIP B. After the optimisation of the extraction process, 60% of EMPA can be removed from the NIP B without affecting the retention on the MIP B. A recovery of extraction of 93% was then obtained on the MIP B. Its capacity was then measured and corresponds to 97 microg of EMPA per gram of MIP. Finally, the selectivity of MIP B was clearly demonstrated by applying it to the clean-up of a soil extract spiked with EMPA.     

MIP-SERS技术快速检测中药中非法添加的茶碱

建立了分子印迹技术(MIP)与表面增强拉曼光谱(SERS)联用对中药中非法添加的茶碱成分快速检测的方法。基于沉淀聚合方法合成MIP微球,对复杂中药基质中的茶碱进行简单分离,采用SERS对MIP中吸附的茶碱进行定性检测。实验利用SEM,FT-IR对MIP结构表征,考察了MIP的热力学、动力学和选择性吸附能力,以及掺杂成分的检出限。结果表明,MIP比NIP对茶碱具有更好的特异性吸附和选择性,该方法对茶碱的检出限低至0.1μg/L。方法用于5种止咳平喘类中药的检测,其中1种中药检出非法添加了茶碱成分。该法灵敏度高,特异性强,无需前处理,简单快速,实现了掺伪中药中茶碱的快速检测,有望进一步应用于其他复杂基质体系。     

Water-compatible molecularly imprinted polymers for efficient direct injection on-line solid-phase extraction of ropivacaine and bupivacaine from human plasma

Two novel molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) selected from a combinatorial library of bupivacaine imprinted polymers were used for selective on-line solid-phase extraction of bupivacaine and ropivacaine from human plasma. The MIPs were prepared using methacrylic acid as the functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the cross-linking monomer and in addition hydroxyethylmethacrylate to render the polymer surface hydrophilic. The novel MIPs showed high selectivity for the analytes and required fewer and lower concentrations of additives to suppress non-specific adsorption compared with a conventional MIP. This enabled the development of an on-line system for direct extraction of buffered plasma. Selective extraction was achieved without the use of time-consuming solvent switch steps, and transfer of the analytes from the MIP column to the analytical column was carried out under aqueous conditions fully compatible with reversed-phase LC gradient separation of analyte and internal standard. The MIPs showed excellent aqueous compatibility and yielded extractions with acceptable recovery and high selectivity.