Résumé
OBJECTIVE: To establish a novel and efficient method for enriching low content active components from traditional Chinese herbs. METHODS: The enrichment of atractylenolide III was taken as an example. First, molecular imprinting polymers (MIPs) of atractylenolide III were prepared by precipitation polymerization using 1-Vinylimidazole as functional monomer. Second, the atractylenolide III MIPs were packed into solid-phase column to separate atractylenolide III and its analogues from the exracts of Herba Atractylodes Macrocephaia and Codonopsis pilosula. Moreover, the adsorption performance of MIPs for the target components was also investigated. RESULTS: Enrichment factor (EF) of MIP-SPE and C18-SPE column were 78.90 and 51.56 μg · g-1 respectively, suggesting that MIPs had better adsorption property than C18; the precision and accuracy of the developed method were satisfactory with recoveries of 102.2% and LOD of 0.36 μg · mL-1. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate the feasibility of molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction for enriching low content active components in traditional Chinese herbs.