A method of preparing molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) with Zn(II) as a metallic pivot was adopted to solve the problem
of imprinting compound with intramolecular hydrogen bonds by forming stronger coordination binding interaction among the
template–functional monomer-Zn2+ complex. A ternary porogenic system including dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethylformamide,
and room temperature ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate was employed to fabricate imprinted monolith
with high porosity and good flow-through properties, in which chicoric acid (CA), zinc acetate, 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP), and
ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) was the template, metallic ion, functional monomer, as well as crosslinker, respectively.
The influence of polymerization factors including the 4-VP-CA ratio, monomer-crosslinker ratio, template-Zn2+ ratio on imprinting factors was systematically investigated. When the ratio of 4-VP to CA was 24:1, the greatest IF value (24.81) was
achieved on the CA-MIP prepared with zinc acetate. In addition, off-line SPE with the optimal MIPs monolith led to high purity
of CA (98.0% ± 0.5%) from extraction of Cichorium intybus L. roots with the recovery of 77.5% ± 2.5% (n = 6). As a
conclusion, the strategy of introducing metal ions as metal pivot to prepare MIPs was a powerful method for the MIPs synthesis
to the template molecules with intramolecular hydrogen bonds.

• A strategy of utilizing Zn(II) as metallic pivot in room temperature ionic liquid to prepare molecularly imprinted polymers for compound with intramolecular hydrogen bonds