Using baicalin-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles for selectively extracting flavonoids from Rosa chinensis.

An extraction agent featuring a natural product, baicalin, anchored on the surface of nanomagnetic particles (BMNPs) is herein reported. A facile solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure with high selectivity toward flavonoids using BMNPs has been established. BMNPs were proven very effective for enriching flavonoids from extracts of medicinal plants such as Rosa chinensis. The SPE protocol involving a convenient solid-liquid separation by using an external magnet field was easy to carry out. Further, the SPE sorbent (BMNPs) could be reused for many times reducing the operation cost. Importantly, flavonoids retained on the BMNPs were effectively recovered by eluting with methanol. Coupling the proposed SPE with ESI-MS/MS allowed a quick quantification of flavonoids in herbal extracts. Simultaneous determination of eight flavonoids extracted from R. chinensis was demonstrated in this work.