Selective isolation of sesquiterpene coumarins from asafoetida using dummy molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction method.

Due to the biological features of sesquiterpene coumarins and incomparable interest in therapeutics application of natural products, extraction of sesquiterpene coumarins from asafoetida have gained highly attention. One of the most important problems is removal of sulfur containing compounds which are co-existed with sesquiterpene coumarins. So employment of new methods for selective extraction and cleanup of sesquiterpene coumarins is very substantial. In this study using dummy molecularly imprinting technique, 7-hydroxycoumarin-imprited polymer was synthesized and after evaluation of binding properties of polymers, the optimum one was used as sorbent in solid phase extraction. Afterwards dummy molecularly imprinting solid phase extraction (DMISPE) method was calibrated for simultaneous extraction of galbanic acid, 7-isopentenyloxy coumarin and auraptene from aqueous media before high performance liquid chromatography with UV detector (HPLC-UV) analysis. The recovery was in the range of 68.32%-84.69%, which were in the acceptable range compared to previous works. Finally, the calibrated DMISPE method was used for extraction and cleanup of sesquiterpene coumarins from asafetida plant. The concentration of isosamarcandin, kellerin and farnesiferol in asafoetida extract was obtained 0.8, 2.7, and 5 µg/mL, respectively, using standard addition method.