title: Preparation of molecularly imprinted polymers for artemisinin based on the surfaces of silica gel.
abstract: Artemisinin is an effective antimalarial drug isolated from the herbal medicine Artemisia annua L. Molecular imprinting is a technique of preparing molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) which can specifically recognize the imprinted template molecules. In this work, silica gel were used as supporting matrix, and vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) was grafted onto its surface. The preparation of MIPs for artemisinin was performed on the surfaces of the modified silica gel using artemisinin as the template, acrylamide (AM) and methacrylic acid (MAA) as the functional monomers, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross-linker and 2,2'-azo-bis-isobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the initiator. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and pore size analysis were used to characterize the prepared MIPs. The adsorption kinetic curve, adsorption isotherm and selective adsorption were measured by static method. The adsorption reached equilibrium at about 10 h, while fast adsorption took place during the first 2-3 h. The maximum adsorption capacity has been found to be 37.13 mg/g according to calculation with Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm. The electivity coefficients of MIPs for artemisinin with respect to artemether and arteether were 2.88 and 3.38, respectively. The results showed that the MIPs possessed good specific adsorption capacity and selectivity for artemisinin.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, Department of Biochemical Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology, 130 Meilong Rd., Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Yan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Xue-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Cao
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000077549:Artemether; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000737:chemistry*; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D007700:Kinetics; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D054802:Molecular Imprinting / Q000379:methods*; D011108:Polymers / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D016062:Porosity; D058428:Silica Gel / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D037621:Artemisinins; D011108:Polymers; D058428:Silica Gel; D000077549:Artemether; C055141:artemotil