Solid-phase Extraction of Liquiritin and Glycyrrhizin from Licorice using Porous Alkyl-pyridinium Polymer Sorbent

Introduction - Liquiritin and glycyrrhizin are valuable components of licorice. An effective separation and determination procedure is needed to separate the liquiritin and glycyrrhizin from the licorice extract. Methodology - A polymer-confined, ionic liquid sorbent was developed using a process involving polymerisation and modification. The obtained porous particles were used as a sorbent in a solid-phase extraction process to isolate liquiritin and glycyrrhizin from licorice with different washing and elution solvents. The porous alkyl-pyridinium polymer sorbent was compared with the C-18 sorbent. Results - A simple and convenient method was established to the selectively separate and determinate of liquiritin and glycyrrhizin using a porous ionic liquid-based polymer coupled with HPLC. Additionally, this study evaluated the application of this sorbent for the detection of these two compounds in commercial medicines. Conclusion - This method was a viable tool that was compatible with the existing HPLC methods and was used to separate and analyse the content of liquiritin and glycyrrhizin in licorice. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.