A novel magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer for selective extraction and determination of quercetin in plant samples.

Molecularly imprinted polymers that mimic the binding mechanism of antibodies and their antigens exhibit several advantages, such as fast synthesis, low cost, high stability, and allow to overcome the ethical issues associated with antibody farming in animals. Herein, a novel strategy combining the magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (MMIP) as an artificial antibody with a fluorescence procedure for the detection of quercetin in plant samples was designed. The MMIP was synthesized via a radical polymerization process to recognize specific functional groups of quercetin using a green technique based on high energy ultrasound irradiation. The developed MMIP was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning/transmission electron microscopy, and thermal gravimetric analysis, which confirmed the successful preparation of MMIP. The adsorption capacity and selectivity of the MMIP for quercetin and other interferents analogous were performed. The MMIP was applied in the solid-phase extraction (SPE) technique as a selective sorbent for the sample preparation. Besides, a sensitive fluorometric method for the quantitation of quercetin was developed. A linear response was obtained within the concentration of 0.005-1.25 μg mL-1 of quercetin. The limit of detection and quantitation were 1.1 ng mL-1 and 3.7 ng mL-1, respectively. The average recoveries for quercetin were between 92.2% and 104.7% with an RSD less than 5.06% in spiked orange juice and tea extract samples. Furthermore, the developed procedure was successfully combined with a new paper-based analytical device for on-site smartphone analysis of quercetin.