Fe3O4@SiO2/GO/HKUST-1 nanocomposite for quercetin extraction and preconcentration followed by its determination using HPLC.

Quercetin, a key flavonoid found in many fruits and vegetables, offers notable health benefits, including antioxidant, antiviral, and antitumor properties. Yet, isolating it from complex plant materials is challenging. This research aimed to develop a selective and efficient sorbent to clean up real sample matrices and pre-concentrate quercetin, enhancing its detection using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Several metal organic frameworks (MOFs) were synthesized and initially, their abilities to sorption of quercetin from aqueous and alcohol media were examined. Among them, HKUST-1 showed the best performance. To improve the efficiency of this MOF, its composite with graphene oxide (GO) was prepared (Fe₃O₄@SiO₂/GO/HKUST-1) and was employed for quercetin extraction through magnetic dispersive micro solid-phase extraction. The effect of different parameters was examined and the kinetic, thermodynamic, and isotherm of the sorption process was studied. The related results showed the system followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, with the Temkin and Langmuir isotherm models applicable in aqueous and methanol solutions, respectively. The method enabled rapid preconcentration and clean up within 20 min, with a 99.6% adsorption efficiency using just 5 mg of sorbent. The nanocomposite demonstrated an adsorption capacity of 29.3 mg/g and effectively extracted quercetin from red onion samples, achieving recovery rates between 75% and 98% for HPLC-diode array detector analysis. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Quercetin is a common polyphenolic compound, which is widely found in plant materials such as onions. Owing to its medicinal effects including anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, cardioprotective, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-allergic features, it has widespread usage in pharmacology and preparation of food preservers. In this study, Fe₃O₄@SiO₂/GO/HKUST-1 nanocomposite was synthesized for extraction and preconcentration of quercetin from an onion sample. Very low amounts of this sorbent indicated high adsorption percentage and adsorption capacity for quercetin. This method was simple, fast, cost-effective, precise, and accurate, which exhibited a potential for extraction of quercetin in a large scale.