Abstract: A rational design approach was taken to the planning and synthesis of a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) capable of extracting puerarin from pueraria extract. The polymer was evaluated by static adsorption experiment. A molecular modeling approach was used to elucidate template-monomer interaction. Data from spectral analysis were used to prove the prediction made by molecular modeling. The MIPs have high selectivity to puerarin,the recovery rate of puerarin at 78.0%,and purity at 86.5% were attained. The successful preparation of molecular-imprinted polymers for solid-phase extraction for puerarin provides an innovative opportunity for the separation of traditional Chinese medicine.

Key words: puerarin, molecular imprinting, SPE, molecular modeling