Preparation and Application of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Flavonoids: Review and Perspective

Abstract

The separation and detection of flavonoids from various natural products have attracted increasing attention in the field of natural product research and development. Depending on the high specificity of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), MIPs are proposed as efficient adsorbents for the selective extraction and separation of flavonoids from complex samples. At present, a comprehensive review article to summarize the separation and purification of flavonoids using molecular imprinting, and the employment of MIP-based sensors for the detection of flavonoids is still lacking. Here, we reviewed the general preparation methods of MIPs towards flavonoids, including bulk polymerization, precipitation polymerization, surface imprinting and emulsion polymerization. Additionally, a variety of applications of MIPs towards flavonoids are summarized, such as the different forms of MIP-based solid phase extraction (SPE) for the separation of flavonoids, and the MIP-based sensors for the detection of flavonoids. Finally, we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the current synthetic methods for preparing MIPs of flavonoids and prospected the approaches for detecting flavonoids in the future. The purpose of this review is to provide helpful suggestions for the novel preparation methods of MIPs for the extraction of flavonoids and emerging applications of MIPs for the detection of flavonoids from natural products and biological samples.

Comparison of different extraction methods of active ingredients of Chinese medicine and natural products

“…At present, the classical extraction methods of CM and natural products mainly include decoction [25, 26], maceration [27–29], reflux [30, 31], percolation [21], steam distillation [32] and sublimation [33, 34]. With the development of modern separation science and equipment, some new technologies such as ultrasonic wave‐assisted extraction (UAE) [35–38], microwave‐assisted extraction (MAE) [39–42], supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) [43–47], enzyme‐assisted extraction (EAE) [48, 23, 49], membrane separation extraction (MSE) [50–57], ultrafine grinding technology (UGT) [58–64], microporous resin adsorption technology (MRAT) [65–70], semi‐bionic extraction (SBE) [71, 72], immune selective extraction (ISE) [73–77], molecular‐distillation technology [78–82], molecularly‐imprinted polymer extraction (MIPE) [83–88], UPE [89–93], liquid chromatographic extraction (LCE) [94–99], solid‐phase extraction (SPE) [100–107], liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) [108–112], etc. have been given birth to.…”

Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Adsorbents for the Selective Removal of Pharmaceuticals from Wastewater: Adsorption Kinetics, Isotherms, and Thermodynamics Studies

“…31 After this effective application, numerous MIP-based SPE applications of diverse chemicals in various fields were performed and published in the literature. 112 In order to improve the selectivity of extraction in SPE, MIPs are used as sorbent materials that have the ability to bind the target analyte in complex matrices with high loading capacity, great robustness, and easy preparation. MIPs have recently emerged as an intriguing study area for the creation of sorbents for SPE of chemicals in environmental and occupational samples due to their stability, affordability, and ease of fabrication.…”

“…The first MIPs-related SPE application was published by Sellergren . After this effective application, numerous MIP-based SPE applications of diverse chemicals in various fields were performed and published in the literature . In order to improve the selectivity of extraction in SPE, MIPs are used as sorbent materials that have the ability to bind the target analyte in complex matrices with high loading capacity, great robustness, and easy preparation.…”

Flavonoids Are Intra- and Inter-Kingdom Modulator Signals

“…So far, flavonoids are extracted from natural plant resources through separation techniques [281,282]. Recently, much progress has been made through a synthetic chemistry approach to investigate the structure-activity of flavonoid moieties [283], to promote synthetic units that control a precise interaction site within the biological system [284,285], and to modify the flavonoid backbone to achieve new functionalities [286], paving the way toward the discovery of new drugs [287].…”