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A boronate-modified magnetic affinity sorbent was prepared by adopting hyperbranched polyethyleneimine as the scaffold to amplify initiator sites. 3-Acrylamidophenylboronic acid was employed as monomer to proceed in situ free-radical polymerization on magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles. Due to the improved density of boronic acid polymers, the adsorbent exhibited high adsorption capacity, typically (134 ± 8) μg mg−1 for dopamine, (92 ± 7) μg mg−1 for catechol, (363 ± 14) μg mg−1 for ovalbumin and (464 ± 22) μg mg−1 for horseradish peroxidase. These capacities are much higher than those of other adsorbents. The sorbent was applied to the enrichment of catecholamines from spiked human urine. Owing to the high adsorption capacity, only 1.0 mg of adsorbent was sufficient to eliminate the interferences and enrich the targets (dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine) within 5 min. They were quantified by HPLC. The recoveries from spiked samples range between 83.5% ~106%, with relative standard deviations of 3.2 ~ 9.4% (n = 5). The separation of glycoproteins from egg white was also accomplished prior to their analysis by PAGE. In the authors' perception, this approach is promising in that the density of functional groups on the adsorbent is strongly increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]