Development of andrographolide molecularly imprinted polymer for solid-phase extraction

A method employing molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as selective sorbent for solid-phase extraction (SPE) to pretreat samples was developed. The polymers were prepared by precipitation polymerization with andrographolide as template molecule. The structure of MIP was characterized and its static adsorption capacity was measured by the Scatchard equation. In comparison with C18-SPE and non-imprinted polymer (NIP) SPE column, MIP-SPE column displays high selectivity and good affinity for andrographolide and dehydroandrographolide for extract of herb Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Nees (APN). MIP-SPE column capacity was 11.9 ± 0.6 μmol/g and 12.1 ± 0.5 μmol/g for andrographolide and dehydroandrographolide, respectively and was 2–3 times higher than that of other two columns. The precision and accuracy of the method developed were satisfactory with recoveries between 96.4% and 103.8% (RSD 3.1–4.3%, n = 5) and 96.0% and 104.2% (RSD 2.9–3.7%, n = 5) for andrographolide and dehydroandrographolide, respectively. Various real samples were employed to confirm the feasibility of method. This developed method demonstrates the potential of molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction for rapid, selective, and effective sample pretreatment.

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► Andrographolide molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) has high selectivity and good affinity for andrographolide and dehydroandrographolide.
► MIP-SPE column capacity was 2–3 times higher than that of C18-SPE and non-imprinted polymer (NIP) SPE column for andrographolide and dehydroandrographolide.
► The method employing MIP-SPE column to quantitative analysis has a low detection limit, high recovery and good reproducibility.
► MIP-SPE column is an ideal material to enrich the active target component from the complex samples.