Synthesis of multi-template molecularly imprinted polymers (MT-MIPs) for isolating ethyl para-methoxycinnamate and ethyl cinnamate from Kaempferia galanga L., extract with methacrylic acid as functional monomer

Kaempferia galanga L. extract contains ethyl p-methoxycinnamate (EPMC) and ethyl cinnamate (EC), which have several pharmacological activities. EPMC and EC have been successfully isolated, but the %yield was low. Therefore, developing an isolation method to increase the %yield result of EPMC and EC is essential. The molecularly imprinted polymers have been applied to separate lot of active compounds from natural products with excellent results. MIP synthesis is usually performed using a single template with high selectivity for the target analyte but only detect single chemical compounds. Hence, this study synthesized multi-template molecularly imprinted polymers (MT-MIPs) for isolating EPMC and EC simultaneously using methacrylic acid as a functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate or trimethyl propane trimethacrylate (TRIM) as a crosslinker. The study results indicate that MT-MIP produced with TRIM is more effective in separating EPMC and EC simultaneously in K. galanga L. extracts. However, the yields of EPMC and EC were still low. The yields of EPMC and EC in n-hexane extracts were 1.557 and 1.929%, with purity of 66.330 and 61.510%, respectively. Further research is necessary to determine the ideal functional monomer and its ratio to template molecules to obtain the excellent selectivity of the MT-MIPs used for simultaneously isolating EPMC and EC.