Selective enrichment of Rutin in sunscreen by boronate affinity molecularly imprinted polymer prior to determination by high performance liquid chromatography

In this study, AgCl was used as the carrier matrix, TiO2 was introduced on the substrate surface, carboxyphenylboronic acid (CPBA) was used as the boronate affinity functional monomer, and Rutin (RT) as template to prepare molecular imprinted adsorbent AgCl@TiO2 @B-MIPs (B-MIPs). The effects of synthesis conditions, solid-phase extraction (SPE) conditions, selectivity, competitiveness, reproducibility, and reusability were evaluated in detail. Under the optimum adsorption conditions, the maximum adsorption capacity is 31.70 mg g−1. The utility of B-MIPs as a SPE adsorbent for RT was supported by an abundance of pore structure, as well as boric acid affinity sites that facilitate rapid binding of adsorbents to templates. The linear range is 0.05–50 mg L−1, and the limit of detection (LOD) is 0.023 mg L−1. The method was used for the determination of RT in sunscreen and isolation cream by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The target analytic recoveries are in the range of 84.7–98.0% (relative standard deviation is less than 2.4%, n = 3). Furthermore, this work provides a potential possibility to detect other cis-diol containing analytes in the complex matrix.