Design, synthesis, and characterization of molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction for alpha Mangostin analysis in blood sample

Low levels of alpha-mangostin (AM) in biological fluids require adequate sample preparation to be analyzed. Molecularly imprinted polymers can serve as sorbents in solid phase extraction, enabling concentration and extraction of alpha-mangostin from complex matrices, such as biological fluids. To date, there are no molecular imprinted polymers for the analysis of alpha-mangostin in biological fluids. In this study, AM molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) was designed using molecular modeling, molecular dynamic simulations, and prepared by bulk polymerization and suspension polymerization methods. The geometry optimization results showed that acrylamide (AAM) monomer forms the most stable complex with AM at the pre-polymerization with the most negative Gibbs free energy (Delta G) of -6.91818 Kcal/mol. Radial distribution function (RDF) in molecular dynamics simulation of AM:AAM:ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) with mol ratio 1:4:20 shows the complex with the best composition through the formation of four stable hydrogen bonds. Based on the experimental results, molecularly imprinted polymers in suspension exhibit better characteristics, selectivity, and adsorption capacity than in bulk. The suspension polymerization method showed a high recovery (85.88% +/- 2.5), which was higher than C18 SPE cartridge (24.19% +/- 1.47). Hence, it can be concluded that the MIPs from MD simulations were accessible and could be used in practice, such as in the separation and detection of AM in blood serum.