Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for the Separation and Enrichment of Cannabidiol from Hemp Leaf Samples

Abstract

Cannabidiol (CBD) has attracted immense attention due to its excellent clinical effects in the treatment of various diseases. However, rapid and accurate extraction of CBD from hemp plant concentrates remains a challenge. Thus, novel magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (CBD-MMIPs) with specific recognizing capability for CBD were synthesized using ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the cross-linker, CBD as the template, methacrylic acid as the functional monomer, azobisisobutyronitrile as the initiator, and Fe3O4 nanoparticles modified with SiO2 as the magnetic carrier. The morphological, magnetic, and adsorption properties of obtained CBD-MMIPs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry, surface area and porosity analyses, and various adsorption experiments. The results showed that the CBD-MMIPs had selective specificity and high adsorption capacity for CBD. The adsorption of CBD by CBD-MMIPs could reach equilibrium in a short time (30 min), and the maximum adsorption capacity was as high as 26.51 mg/g. The specific recognition and selectivity properties of CBD-MMIPs to CBD were significantly higher than that of other structural analogues, and the regeneration tests established that the CBD-MMIPs had good recyclability. Furthermore, the CBD-MMIPs could be successfully used as an adsorbent to the extraction of CBD from hemp leaf sample concentrates with high recovery efficiencies (93.46–97.40%).

Preparation of Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Polymer for Methylene Blue Capture

“…Highly soluble in organic solvents, the polyamide polymer nylon can be re-precipitated and reformed easily, forming various types of porous structures [38,39,42,43], which in this work will be used for the first time for MMIPs synthesis. The introduction of ferrimagnetic magnetite nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 , MNPs) [33,34,36,44] into the nylon solution makes it possible to form MIPs on the surface of the nanoparticles, imparting magnetic properties to them. Nowadays, coated MNPs find vast applications in nanomedicine, magnetic separation, imaging, and theranostics [28,29,[45][46][47][48][49].…”