Adsorption characteristics, recognition properties, and preliminary application of nordihydroguaiaretic acid molecularly imprinted polymers prepared by sol–gel surface imprinting technology

Abstract In this paper, a new core-shell composite of nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) molecularly imprinted polymers layer-coated silica gel (MIP@SiO 2 ) was prepared through sol–gel technique and applied as a material for extraction of NDGA from Ephedra. It was synthesized using NDGA as the template molecule, γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) and methyltriethoxysilane (MTEOS) as the functional monomers, tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as the cross-linker and ethanol as the porogenic solvent in the surface of silica. The non-imprinted polymers layer-coated silica gel (NIP@SiO 2 ) were prepared with the same procedure, but with the absence of template molecule. In addition, the optimum adsorption affinity occurred when the molar ratio of NDGA:APTS:MTEOS:TEOS was 1:6:2:80. The prepared MIP@SiO 2 and NIP@SiO 2 were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Their affinity properties to NDGA were evaluated through dynamic adsorption, static adsorption, and selective recognition experiments, and the results showed the saturated adsorption capacity of MIP@SiO 2 could reach to 5.90 mg g −1 , which was two times more than that of NIP@SiO 2 . High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to evaluate the extraction of NDGA from the medicinal plant ephedra by the above prepared materials, and the results indicated that the MIP@SiO 2 had potential application in separation of the natural active component NDGA from medicinal plants.