A cellulose-based intelligent temperature-sensitive molecularly imprinted aerogel reactor for specific recognition and enrichment of ursolic acid

Abstract

In this article, thermosensitive molecularly imprinted polymer and composite aerogel were combined for the first time to create an intelligent temperature-responsive aerogel reactor to effectively enrich ursolic acid (UA). Because aerogel carrier had a higher specific surface area and higher porosity compared to other carriers, the ursolic acid molecularly imprinted intelligent temperature responsive aerogel reactor (ITR&AR(G570)&UA-MIP) demonstrated a higher adsorption capacity for UA. More notably, ITR&AR(G570)&UA-MIP have the extraordinary capacity to spontaneously adsorb-desorb target molecule UA by regulating the reaction temperature. The ratio of the target molecule UA to the functional monomer and crosslinker in the grafting process and external influences had a major impact on how ITR&AR(G570)&UA-MIP were prepared overall. When the molar ratio of UA to 4-VP was 1:8, the weight ratio between ITR&AR(G570)&UA-MIP and EGDMA/DVB was 1:2:10, the reaction temperature was 60 °C, and the ambient pH = 6, the material showed the best adsorption capacity, reaching a peak of about 70 mg g−1. After researching the appropriate synthesis conditions, ITR&AR(G570)&UA-MIP were applied to lingonberry (Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea L.) berry extracts in this work. The outcomes show that this technique provides a new, intelligent, temperature-controlled adsorption material for the solid-phase extraction of triterpenoid acids in natural products, with good specific adsorption performance for the target molecule UA.