Research trends in functionalized Fe₃O₄ composites based on affinity recognition systems for targeted extraction of...

In recent years, target-specific affinity recognition systems based on Fe₃O₄-based composites have proven to be an effective method for screening natural products. Herbal medicines contain a wide range of natural products and are considered to be a major source for the development of novel drugs. However, the process of isolating and obtaining these bioactive components for the production of novel drugs is complex. Meanwhile, the complexity and diversity of herbal constituents have posed a great challenge to the screening studies of herbal active ingredients. Currently, traditional extraction and screening studies of active ingredients in herbal medicine include extraction and chromatographic separation technology development, serum medicinal chemistry, metabolomics and computerized virtual screening. In order to achieve integrated targeting of Fe₃O₄ for extraction and separation of natural products from herbs, various Fe₃O₄-based composites need to be synthesized so that the composites can be further functionalized and modified. Composites such as Fe₃O₄@SiO₂, Fe₃O₄-based magnetic graphene oxide and Fe₃O₄-based magnetic carbon nanotubes were used to achieve targeted extraction and isolation of natural products from herbal medicines. The main extraction techniques involved based on these Fe₃O₄-based composites are molecularly imprinted techniques, immobilized ligand fishing techniques, and cell membrane-coated bionanotechnology methods. This article will present recent advances in the synthesis and modification of Fe₃O₄ composites and their applications for the extraction of natural products in conjunction with molecular imprinting, immobilization-targeted fishing, and cell-membrane-coated biomimetic techniques, as well as the future goals and challenges of functionalized modification of Fe₃O₄ composites for the targeted extraction of natural products, like protein overexpression modification, doping of fluorescent substances and genetic engineering development. A deeper understanding of the multi-level, multidisciplinary, and applied studies in materials science and phytochemistry will be provided by this article.