Molecularly imprinted polymers with synthetic dummy template for simultaneously selective removal and enrichment of ginkgolic acids from Ginkgo biloba L. leaves extracts

• Dummy molecularly imprinted polymers for ginkgolic acids were firstly proposed.
• 6-methoxysalicylic acid and 6-hexadecyloxysalicylic acid were synthesized as dummy template.
• The DMIPs had high affinity and selectivity to three ginkgolic acids.
• Application of the optimized protocol for simultaneously selective removal and enrichment of three ginkgolic acids during the processing of Ginkgo biloba leaves.

Dummy molecularly imprinted polymers (DMIPs) for simultaneously selective removal and enrichment of ginkgolic acids (GAs) during the processing of Ginkgo biloba leaves have been prepared. Two dummy template molecule with similar structural skeleton to GAs, 6-methoxysalicylic acid (MOSA, DT-1) and 6-hexadecyloxysalicylic acid (HOSA, DT-2), have been designed and synthesized. The performance of the DMIPs and NIPs were evaluated including selective recognition capacity, adsorption isotherm, and adsorption kinetics. The selective recognition capacity of the three GAs with four analogues on the sorbents illustrated that the DMIPs sorbents have high specificity for GAs. An efficient method based on DMIP-HOSA coupled with solid-phase extraction (SPE) was developed for simultaneously selective removal and enrichment of ginkgolic acids (GAs) during the processing of Ginkgo biloba leaves. The method showed excellent recoveries (82.5–88.7%) and precision (RSD 0.5–2.6%, n = 5) for licorice extracts, Gastrodia elata extracts and pepper extracts spiked at three concentration levels each (50, 100, 200 μg mL−1). The results indicated that GAs and standardized Ginkgo biloba leaves extracts could be obtained simultaneously through the DMIP-SPE.