Properties evaluation and separation application of naringin-imprinted polymers prepared by a covalent imprinting method based on boronate ester

Covalent molecularly imprinted polymer (CMIP) for naringin was prepared with a conventional radical bulk polymerization by utilizing 4-vinylphenylboronic acid as a functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as a cross-linking agent. Properties such as adsorption dynamics, special binding, and selective recognition ability were evaluated. The results revealed that the CMIP possessed specific recognition ability and high molecular selectivity in contrast with a non-imprinted polymer in methanol-phosphate buffer (pH 8.0) (7/3, v/v), and the maximum equilibrium adsorption amount of CMIP reached 64.80 μmol.g⁻¹. The adsorption equilibrium could be achieved within 3 h, which indicated that the adsorption dynamic was relatively fast. The CMIP was further employed as a sorbent of solid phase extraction (SPE) to directly separate naringin from Exocarpium citri grandi extract. The results showed that the CMIP could separate and enrich naringin from E. citri grandi extract effectively, and the special binding was calculated to be about 72 % of the total adsorption on the SPE cartridges.