Porous phenolic resin regulated by alcohol-based deep eutectic solvent for selective extraction and separation of tanshinones from Salvia miltiorrhiza.

Deep eutectic solvents (DES), regarded as promising green solvents, have gained attention due to their distinctive properties, particularly in analytical chemistry. While the use of DES in solvent extraction and separation has been extensively studied, its application in the synthesis of adsorbents has just begun. Phenolic resin, with its polyhydroxy structure and stable spherical morphology, could serve as an effective as adsorbents for enrichment of active ingredients in herbal medicine. Designing adsorbents with high selectivity and adsorption capacity presents a critical challenge in the enrichment of active ingredients in herbal medicine. In this study, alcohol-based DESs were employed as regulators of morphology and structure instead of organic solvents, facilitating the creation of polyhydroxy structure, adjustable pores and high specific surface areas. The resulting DES-regulated porous phenolic resin demonstrated enhanced extraction and separation capacity for active ingredients compared to conventional spherical phenolic resin owing to the alcohol-based DES offering more interaction modes with the analytes.