Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was synthesized and applied for the extraction of chicoric acid from Chicory herb (Chicorium intybus L.). A computational study was developed to find a suitable template to functional monomer molar ratio for MIP preparations. The molar ratio was chosen based on the comparison of the binding energy of the complexes between the template and functional monomers. Based on the computational results, eight different polymers were prepared using chicoric acid as the template. The MIPs were synthesized in a non-covalent approach via thermal free-radical polymerization, using two different polymerization methods, bulk and suspension. Batch rebinding experiments were performed to evaluate the binding properties of the imprinted polymers. The best results were obtained with a MIP prepared using bulk polymerization with 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP) as the functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the crosslinker with a molar ratio of 1:4:20. The best MIP showed selective binding ability toward chicoric acid in the presence of the template's structural analogues, caffeic acid, caftaric acid and chlorogenic acid.
Keywords: Chicoric acid; Computational study; Extraction; Molecularly imprinted polymer; Phenolic acids.
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