Molecularly imprinted polymers based on SBA-15 for selective solid-phase extraction of baicalein from plasma samples

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Baicalein (BAI) is a valuable compound with potential therapeutic applications.
• Efficient extraction methods are crucial for analyzing BAI in complex biological matrices.
• Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) offer high selectivity for target molecule recognition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize a highly selective molecularly imprinted mesoporous silica polymer (SBA-15@MIP) for baicalein (BAI) extraction.
• To evaluate the performance of SBA-15@MIP as a solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbent for trace BAI determination.
• To optimize the design of MIPs using computational simulations.

Main Methods:

• Surface molecular imprinting technique on SBA-15 support.
• Computational simulation for functional monomer prediction.
• Characterization using adsorption and performance tests.
• Solid-phase extraction (SPE) coupled with HPLC-UV analysis.

Main Results:

• SBA-15@MIP exhibited a highly ordered mesoporous structure and rapid saturated adsorption (within 60 min).
• The synthesized polymer showed significantly higher sorption capacity for BAI compared to non-imprinted polymers (SBA-15@NIP) and bare SBA-15.
• Mean recovery for BAI using SBA-15@MIP in SPE was 94.4%, demonstrating excellent selectivity and efficiency.

Conclusions:

• SBA-15@MIP is a highly selective and efficient sorbent for BAI extraction.
• The developed material shows great potential for the selective separation and enrichment of trace BAI from complex samples.
• This approach enables accurate determination of BAI in plasma samples using SPE-HPLC-UV.