Preparation and characterization of mock strawberry-like aminopropyl-modified mesoporous silica for column chromatographic purification of paclitaxel in Taxus × Media

Abstract

Paclitaxel is a very important chemotherapy drug whose separation from natural resource is still attracting significant interest. In this work, a novel mock strawberry-like aminopropyl-modified mesoporous silica (MSAMM-SiO2) was synthesized by using the cohydrolysis and condensation method. The morphology and structure of the as-prepared MSAMM-SiO2 were confirmed by characterization of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms. The surface area and average pore diameter of MSAMM-SiO2 were 170.19 m2 g−1 and 9.27 nm, respectively. The results of adsorption and separation experiments showed that MSAMM-SiO2 had good separation performance and re-usability in taxoid standard solution or the extract of Taxus × media. The adsorption capacity of MSAMM-SiO2 was 4.02 mg g−1 at 20 °C and an initial paclitaxel concentration of 0.05 mg g−1. This work introduced a novel mock strawberry-like aminopropyl-modified mesoporous silica for column chromatographic purifying paclitaxel in Taxus × media, which also had the potential for separating other natural products in other plants.