Molecular Imprinted Solid-Phase Extraction System for the Selective Separation of Oleuropein from Olive Leaf

<div><p>Oleuropein has many antimicrobial, antiviral, and anticancer features found in olive leaf. Therefore, its isolation from olive leaf is very important in such kinds of applications. In this study, a solid-phase extraction system based on the molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was proposed for the selective separation of oleuropein from olive leaf. First, oleuropein imprinted polymer has been prepared by the suspension polymerization using methacrylolamidoantiprine–iron (III) metal-chelate monomers. After that, the oleuropein adsorption capacity and selectivity of the prepared imprinted polymer has been determined. The maximum adsorption capacity of oleuropein has found to be 140 mg g⁻¹. Finally, MIP has been used as a sorbent in the solid-phase extraction for the separation of oleuropein from crude extract of olive leaves. The oleuropein analyses have been realized by high performance liquid chromatography. The obtained results indicated that the prepared molecularly imprinted sorbent could be used for at least 10 times for purification of oleuropein from olive leaf. The application of the proposed system in the real sample showed that 24.2 mg pure oleuropein could be obtained from 1.0 g of crude olive leaf extract. As a result, the low cost, simple, and selective adsorbent has been developed for oleuropein adsorption. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of <i>Separation Science & Technology</i> to view the supplemental file.</p> </div