Adsorption Capacity and Selectivity of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers towards β-Sitosterol

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) as an adsorbent has been synthesized using β-sitosterol as molecule template on free radical polymerization reaction. The capacity and selectivity of the adsorption from MIP to β-sitosterol was studied in this study. The β-sitosterol concentration in the adsorption-desorption test and the MIP selectivity test were analyzed by UV-visible and HPLC. The MIP obtained from the synthesis results in a high adsorption capacity. Based on the Freundlich adsorption isothermal equation, the adsorption capacity (k) was found to be 1.24 mg/g. The MIP can adsorb 100 % β-sitosterol while cholesterol was only 3 %. The MIP is most selective to β-sitosterol, therefore, has high potential to apply as adsorbent at solid phase extraction method to isolate β-sitosterol from sample extract.