Selective separation of active inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor from Caragana Jubata by molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction

A feasibility research was performed to study the possibilities of using a molecularly imprinted polymer as sorbent material in solid-phase extraction for the separation of active inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGRF) from Caragana Jubata, a Chinese traditional Tibetan medicine. A molecularly imprinted polymer using quercetin, an active anti-EGFR inhibitor (IC50=15 μM), as the template and acrylamide as the functional monomer was prepared. The polymer was evaluated as a selective sorbent in molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction. The EtOAc extract of Caragana Jubata was loaded on the polymer, and two novel active anti-EGFR inhibitors were found to be selectively retained after washing the polymer with appropriate solvent to disrupt the non-specific interactions occurring between the sample and the polymer matrix, which were identified as (E)-piceatannol (IC50=4.9 μM) and butein (IC50=10 μM). The present work affords us a new potential method for selective separation of bioactive components from herb by using molecularly imprinted polymer as a solid-phase extraction adsorbent.