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Author Spotlight: Engineering Molecular Tools for Disease Detection and Imaging
Published on: December 8, 2023
Hydrophilic molecularly imprinted resin-hexagonal boron nitride composite as a new adsorbent for selective extraction
Jiankun Cao1, Mingwei Wang2, Yehong Han2
1Hebei Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety, School of Life Science, College of Public Health, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Hebei University, Baoding, 071002, China; State Key Laboratory of New Pharmaceutical Preparations and Excipients, Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Diagnosis of Ministry of Education, College of Pharmaceutical Science, Hebei University, Baoding, 071002, China.
This study introduces a new hydrophilic molecularly imprinted resin-hexagonal boron nitride (HMIR-h-BN) composite for improved carcinoid tumor diagnosis. The developed method selectively extracts 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) from urine, enhancing diagnostic accuracy.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Analytical Chemistry
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Carcinoid tumor diagnosis relies on detecting biomarkers like 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in biological samples.
- Sample pretreatment remains a significant challenge in accurately quantifying low-concentration biomarkers due to sample complexity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop novel hydrophilic molecularly imprinted resin-hexagonal boron nitride (HMIR-h-BN) composites for solid phase extraction (SPE).
- To selectively detect 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), a key biomarker for carcinoid tumor, in urine samples.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of 22 types of HMIR-h-BN composites by growing hydrophilic molecularly imprinted resin on activated hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets.
- Optimization of preparation parameters for HMIR-h-BN through adsorption experiments to identify the optimal material (HMIR-h-BN #19).
- Application of the optimized HMIR-h-BN-SPE coupled with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) for 5-HIAA detection in urine.
Main Results:
- The optimal HMIR-h-BN #19 material demonstrated efficient separation and extraction of 5-HIAA.
- The developed method achieved a limit of detection of 9.4 ng/mL and a limit of quantification of 31.3 ng/mL for 5-HIAA in urine.
- High accuracy and precision were observed, with R² = 0.9996, relative recoveries from 86.9% to 97.7%, and Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) ≤5.1%, with no interfering peaks.
Conclusions:
- The HMIR-h-BN composite effectively enables selective extraction and purification of 5-HIAA from urine samples.
- The established HMIR-h-BN-SPE-HPLC-UV method allows for accurate quantitative determination of 5-HIAA.
- This method holds significant promise for the early diagnosis of carcinoid tumors.

