A green and efficient boronate affinity solid-phase extraction strategy for ginsenosides enrichment based on dendritic mesoporous silica.

Ginsenosides are a class of natural glycosidic compounds characterized by structural diversity and significant bioactivities, mainly derived from Panax genus plants. However, there are still challenges in achieving efficient and green separation of ginsenosides from complex plant matrices. Traditional methods often suffer from high consumption of organic solvents, poor selectivity, and complex purification processes. In this study, a boronic acid-functionalized dendritic mesoporous silica nanomaterial was constructed based on the reversible covalent interaction between boronic acid ligands and the cis-diol motifs in ginsenosides. It was used as the solid phase extraction adsorbent for the separation and purification of ginsenosides. Taking the decoction of Panax notoginseng stems and leaves as an example, the adsorption performance and impurity removal efficiency of this strategy were systematically evaluated. The key extraction parameters were optimized by single-factor experiments and Box-Behnken response surface methodology. Quantitative analysis of nine major ginsenosides using HPLC-CAD demonstrated that the developed strategy outperformed traditional macroporous resin, achieving enrichment fold of 3.4-4.0, which were nearly 2.0 times higher than those of the resin, along with adsorption recoveries of 93.5-98.7% and desorption recoveries of 88.9-97.9%. The extracted sample was further analyzed by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS. 127 ginsenosides were successfully identified, and the interference signals of non-ginsenosides were markedly reduced. The greenness evaluation by Analytical GREEnness metric and Green Analytical Procedure Index indicated that the boron affinity strategy had significant advantages in terms of environmental friendliness and process sustainability. The solid phase extraction technique based on boron-affinity materials provides a promising approach for the efficient, large-scale and green preparation of ginsenosides and other cis-diol natural products.