Synthesis of amino-silane modified magnetic silica adsorbents and application for adsorption of flavonoids from Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch

Magnetic separation technology was applied in the separation of flavonoids from the licorice root in this work. Licorice flavonoids (LF) displayed a remarkable array of biological and pharmacological activities. The magnetic adsorbents with functional —NH₂ groups were synthesized by immobilization of amino-silane on the surface of the magnetic silica supports, which were prepared by co-precipitation method. The adsorption and desorption characteristics of the magnetic adsorbents for the separation of LF have been evaluated. The purity of an enriched extract with this method was 16.7% while the crude extract only had about 6.8% purity. Therefore, it can be concluded that these kinds of magnetic adsorbents have selectivity to the flavonoids to some extent. The affinity selectivity of the adsorbents is based on the formation of hydrogen bonding between the —NH₂ on the magnetic adsorbents and —OH, —CO on the flavonoids. Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2002AA302211) and the National Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of China (Grant No. 20221603)