Intelligent regulation of NH₂-UiO-66 decorated surface molecularly imprinted polymers: targeted recognition and...

Anthraquinones are pharmacologically active ingredients with laxative effects in health preserving tea, pose intestinal damage risks upon long-term intake. To realize their selective removal, NH₂-UiO-66@MIPs were fabricated by grafting acrylic anhydride onto NH₂-UiO-66 and subsequent coating of a surface imprinting layer. Its preparation process was optimized by adjusting the template-monomer-crosslinker molar ratio. DFT confirmed stable 1:5 template-monomer complexes. Machine learning predicted emodin adsorption capacity, and SHAP analysis guided process optimization. Characterizations confirmed the formation of a thin imprinted layer and efficient removal of anthraquinone. It achieves a maximum adsorption capacity of 11.88 ± 0.21 mg g^-1 and an imprinting factor of 8.37. It retains over 80% capacity after 5 cycles. By adjusting the dosage of NH₂-UiO-66@MIPs, anthraquinone removal rate in health preserving tea was precisely controlled, with emodin and aloe-emodin residues below the limit of detection. UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS confirmed that key active ingredients remained intact, ensuring safe tea consumption. This work provides a reusable and mechanism informed sample pretreatment strategy for anthraquinone control in herbal matrices, supporting pharmaceutical analysis and quality evaluation of herbal medicines.