Preparation and characterization of molecularly imprinted polymers for the selective separation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid

As a method of preparing ligand-selective cavities in a synthetic polymer matrix, molecular imprinting technique has been attracting significant interest from a large number of areas in chemistry and analytical sciences. In this study, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared with styrene, 4-vinylpyridine (4-VPy), and divinylbenzene (DVB) for the separation of hazardous 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), and the selectivity of MIPs as adsorbed 2,4-D and structurally similar materials was evaluated. The template was removed through the swelling process of toluene/ethanol, and the removal ratio was about 95–99%, respectively. MIPs synthesized in this study had good adsorption selectivity in the presence of other materials, although there was a difference of adsorption quantities (uptake) in the functional monomer (4-VPy contents) and the cross-linker (DVB contents). The results exhibit that the selectivity of MIPs was improved significantly by controlling the cross-linker. We expect that molecular imprinting technique will serve as a novel method for selective separation of specific materials in various fields, especially in the fields of environment and pharmaceutics.     

Molecularly imprinted polymers based on iodinated monomers for selective room-temperature phosphorescence optosensing of fluoranthene in water

Aiming at enhancing the advantages of traditional molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for chemical sensing, a new MIP design approach introducing an internal heavy atom in their polymeric structure is described. Based on the heavy-atom effect, the novel polymer allows one to perform room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) transduction of the analyte. The synergic combination of a tailor-made MIP recognition with a selective RTP detection is a novel concept for optosensing devices which is assessed here for simple and highly selective determination of trace amounts of fluoranthene in water. The noncovalent MIP was synthesized using the laboratory-synthesized tetraiodobisphenol A as one of the polymeric precursors and fluoranthene as template. In the presence of an oxygen scavenger, the iodide included in the polymeric structure induced efficient RTP emission from the analyte, once recognized by the MIP. The developed optosensing system has demonstrated a high specificity for fluoranthene against other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Detection limit for the target molecule was 35 ng/L (5-mL sample injections), and the linear range extended above 100 microg/L of the analyte. The polymer can be easily regenerated for subsequent sample injections (at least up to 450 cycles) with acetonitrile. The synthesized sensing material showed good stability for at least 6 months after preparation. The feasibility of monitoring fluoranthene in real samples was successfully evaluated through the analysis of five spiked river water samples.     

Preparation of imprinted polymers at surface of magnetic nanoparticles for the selective extraction of tadalafil from medicines

In this paper, highly selective core-shell molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) of tadalafil on the surface of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were prepared. Three widely used functional monomers 2-(trifluoromethyl) acrylic acid (TFMAA), acrylic acid (AA), and methacrylic acid (MAA) were compared theoretically as the candidates for MIP preparation. MIP-coated magnetic nanoparticles (MIP-coated MNPs) showed large adsorption capacity, high recognition ability, and fast binding kinetics for tadalafil. Furthermore, because of the good magnetic properties, MIP-coated MNPs can achieve rapid and efficient separation with an external magnetic field simply. The resulting MIP-coated MNPs were used as dispersive solid-phase extraction (DSPE) materials coupled with HPLC-UV for the selective extraction and detection of tadalafil from medicines (herbal sexual health products). Encouraging results were obtained. The amounts of tadalafil that were detected from the herbal sexual health product was 43.46 nmol g(-1), and the recoveries were in the range of 87.36-90.93% with the RSD < 6.55%.     

分子印迹聚合物在分离领域的应用

分子印迹技术是近年来集高分子合成、分子设计、分子识别、仿生生物工程等众多学科优势发展起来的一种应用广泛的新型技术.阐述了分子印迹方法的基本原理,介绍了分子印迹聚合物在分离领域的应用.综述了该技术的研究现状,并展望了其发展趋势.     

分子印迹传感器的研究进展

分子印迹传感器具有灵敏度高、选择性好、价格低廉等优点,因此,受到许多研究者广泛的关注和深入的研究。文章介绍了分子印迹聚合物的主要制备方法,分子印迹聚合物和分子印迹传感器的识别机理,综述了分子印迹技术在光学传感器、电化学传感器方面的应用,并展望了分子印迹传感器未来的研究方向。     

Optical detection of chloramphenicol using molecularly imprinted polymers

A practical optical sensing system for the determination of chloramphenicol (CAP), utilizing molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and HPLC, has been developed. The method is based on competitive displacement of a chloramphenicol-methyl red (CAP-MR) dye conjugate from specific binding cavities in an imprinted polymer by the analyte. The best of these polymers was obtained using (diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate as functional monomer at a monomer:template ratio of 2:1. HPLC with a mobile phase containing CAP-MR was used as the detection system, and injection of CAP and, to a lesser degree, thiamphenicol resulted in proportional displacement of the conjugate, which was detected at 460 nm. The detection system showed a linear response over a range of 3-1000 μg/mL and effectively detected CAP extracted from serum. This system offers a tailor-made, selective, and rapid method for CAP detection, is able to discriminate between similar molecules, and is effective below and above the therapeutic range (10-20 μg/mL serum, potentially toxic above 25 μg/mL). This technique is quite general and should enable the use of MIPs in a wide variety of applications involving the detection of families of molecules which possess a distinct arrangement of functional groups.     

Surface-grafted molecularly imprinted polymers for protein recognition.

A technique for coating microplate wells with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) specific for proteins is presented. 3-Aminophenylboronic acid was polymerized in the presence of the following templates: microperoxidase, horseradish peroxidase, lactoperoxidase, and hemoglobin, via oxidation of the monomer by ammonium persulfate. This process resulted in the grafting of a thin polymer layer to the polystyrene surface of the microplates. Imprinting resulted in an increased affinity of the polymer toward the corresponding templates. The influence of the washing procedure, template concentration, and buffer pH on the polymer affinity was analyzed. It was shown that the stabilizing function of the support and spatial orientation of the polymer chains and template functional groups are the major factors affecting the imprint formation and template recognition. Easy preparation of the MIPs, their high stability, and their ability to recognize small and large proteins, as well as to discriminate molecules with small variations in charge, make this approach attractive and broadly applicable in biotechnology, assays and sensors.     

Fibers coated with molecularly imprinted polymers for solid-phase microextraction

The simplicity and flexibility of solid-phase microextraction have been combined with the selectivity of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). Silica fibers were coated reproducible with a 75-microm layer of methacrylate polymer either nonimprinted or imprinted with clenbuterol to compare their extraction characteristics under various conditions. Although the template molecule could be removed effectively from the imprinted polymer, structural analogues of clenbuterol were used for evaluation. The influence of pH on the extractability of brombuterol was investigated. Extraction yields up to approximately 80% were obtained when both types of fibers were used to extract brombuterol from phosphate buffer (pH 7.0). In contrast, yields of about 75 and <5% were obtained when extraction was performed from acetonitrile with imprinted and nonimprinted polymers, respectively, which demonstrates the selectivity of the MIP-coated fiber. Time sorption profiles were measured for the extraction of brombuterol from buffer and acetonitrile at the 10 and 100 ng/mL level with both types of fibers in order to compare extraction characteristics. Equilibrium times of about 30 and 90 min were found for the extraction of brombuterol from acetonitrile and buffer, respectively. The MIP-coated fibers were capable of extracting five structural analogues of clenbuterol from both buffer and acetonitrile, which suggests that the amine alcohol part of these molecules is responsible for interaction with the imprinted polymer. To achieve selective extraction of brombuterol from human urine, MIP-coated fibers were washed with acetonitrile after the extraction. Clean extracts and yields of approximately 45% were obtained, demonstrating the suitability of MIP-coated fibers for the analysis of biological samples.     

Characterization of molecularly imprinted polymers with the Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm

The majority of binding models that have been applied to molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been homogeneous models. MIPs, on the other hand, are heterogeneous materials containing binding sites with a wide array of binding affinities and selectivities. Demonstrated is that the binding behavior of MIPs can be accurately modeled by the heterogeneous Langmuir-Freundlich (LF) isotherm. The applicability of the LF isotherm to MIPs was demonstrated using five representative MIPs from the literature, including both homogeneous and heterogeneous MIPs. Previously, such comparisons required the use of several different binding models and analyses, including the Langmuir model, the Freundlich model, and numerical approximation techniques. In contrast, the LF model enabled direct comparisons of the binding characteristics of MIPs that have very different underlying distributions and were measured under different conditions. The binding parameters can be calculated directly using the LF fitting coefficients that yield a measure of the total number of binding sites, mean binding affinity, and heterogeneity. Alternatively, solution of the Langmuir adsorption integral for the LF model enabled direct calculation of the corresponding affinity spectrum from the LF fitting coefficients from a simple algebraic expression, yielding a measure of the number of binding sites with respect to association constant Finally, the ability of the LF isotherm to model MIPs suggests that a unimodal heterogeneous distribution is an accurate approximation of the distribution found in homogeneous and heterogeneous MIPs.     

分子印迹聚合物的吸附行为研究

被吸附分子到达结合位点以及其与印迹位点的结合是影响分子印迹聚合物吸附行为的重要因素。相关文献对后者的研究较多,而前者主要与聚合物的传质特性相关,虽然日益得到重视,由于影响因素较复杂,仍然是分子印迹聚合物研究的一个薄弱环节。因此以两种代表性功能单体化合物—丙烯酰胺和4-乙烯基吡啶为功能单体,木犀草素为模板分子制备了分子印迹聚合物,通过红外光谱(IR)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和氮气吸附实验对聚合物的物理性能与静态平衡吸附性能的关系进行研究,旨在阐明功能单体对印迹聚合物微孔结构的影响,并探讨了这些性能与聚合物的吸附性能的关系。     

Different approaches to superhard coatings and nanocomposites

Different approaches to the preparation of superhard coatings such as intrinsically superhard materials, coatings whose hardness is enhanced by energetic ion bombardment during deposition, and nanostructured superhard materials are discussed with the emphasis on the question of how to distinguish between the different mechanisms of hardness enhancement in thin coatings. We compare the thermal and long-term stability in air and some further properties of such coatings. The lack of success of some workers to reproduce the high value of hardness reported by Veprek et al. is explained in terms of inappropriate choice of the deposition conditions and/or impurities.     

Bioimprinting of polymers and sol-gel phases. Selective detection of yeasts with imprinted polymers

Coated quartz crystal microbalances were modified with a surface-imprinting process using whole yeast cells. These molded polymer and sol-gel surfaces show honeycomb-like structures as shown by atomic force microscopy. Reinclusion of cells allows a selective on-line monitoring of these microorganism concentrations in water over 5 orders of magnitude. The sensitivity to cells holds up in growth media up to 21 g/L. Even cell fragments can be detected in flowing conditions. The highly robust polymers on the sensor devices are suitable for biotechnological applications.     

Potentiometric immunosensor using artificial antibody based on molecularly imprinted polymers

A potentiometric artificial immunosensor based on a molecularly imprinted polymer was prepared as a detecting element in micro total analysis systems with the intent of providing easy clinical analysis. As the structure and transducing mechanism of this sensor are very simple, construction of a single microsensor should be quite easy. Multimicrosensor arrays applicable to several kinds of analytes will be attainable by both changing the template molecule to be imprinted and reducing the sensor size. The response characteristics of this sensor were evaluated by measuring the response potential to serotonin, which was used as a model material. The obtained sensor was highly responsive to serotonin in water but not to tryptamine, acetaminophen, or procainamide. This phenomenon confirms that the sensor recognizes serotonin and that it functions as a specific artificial immunosensor. Quick measurement is possible because the response time, defined as the time required to achieve 95% of the magnitude of the equilibrated signal, correspond to approximately 12 s. The sensor's determination and detection limits were found to be 1 mumol/L and 100 pmol/L, respectively. These results suggest that our strategy can be applied to construction of a potentiometric artificial immunosensor.     

新型分离材料硅胶表面分子印迹聚合物的制备

本文研究了一种新的基于硅胶表面修饰的分子印迹聚合物制备方法。首先在硅胶表面共价键引进硅氧烷,利用硅氧烷的端基官能团与偶氮(4'氰基戊酸)进一步反应,在硅胶表面引进偶氮引发剂。然后采用分子印迹技术,以甲基丙烯酸为功能单体和乙二醇二甲基丙烯酸酯为交联剂,在硅胶表面合成了对D苯丙氨酸具有选择性结合能力的表面分子印迹的新型分离材料。并用平衡吸附实验研究了其吸附性能。结果表明:该聚合物对D苯丙氨酸有较高的亲和性、选择性、吸附量,可用于分离领域如色谱填料、固相萃取等。     

Preparation of molecularly imprinted polymers for the detection of aromatic hydrocarbons

In this study, the molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are designed to improve their sensitivity and selectivity for specific aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene, and xylene isomers. The MIPs based on methyl acrylate (MA) monomer are prepared using toluene and ethylene glycol dimetacrylate (EGDMA) as a template and a cross linking agent, respectively. The binding sites on the MIPs are characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), nitrogen adsorption isotherms, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The selective behaviors of the MIPs are evaluated by their adsorption properties on a gravimetric apparatus. It is found that the performance is strongly influenced by the composition ratios of cross-linker, functional monomer, and template molecule. The molecular recognition ability can be assessed on the basis of an imprinting effect. The results indicate that the prepared MIPs can be used for the aromatic hydrocarbon sensor materials with high sensitivity and selectivity.     

Computational approach to the rational design of molecularly imprinted polymers for voltammetric sensing of homovanillic acid

A methodology based on density functional theory calculations for the design of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) is described. The method allows the rational choice of the most suitable monomer and polymerization solvent among a set of chemicals traditionally used in MIP formulations for the molecular imprinting of a given template. It is based on the comparison of the stabilization energies of the prepolymerization adducts between the template and different functional monomers. The effect of the polymerization solvent is included using the polarizable continuum model. A voltammetric sensor for homovanillic acid was constructed using different MIPs as recognition element, confirming that the solvent (toluene) and functional monomer (methacrylic acid) selected according to the theoretical predictions lead to the most efficient molecular recognition sensing phase. With the voltammetric sensor prepared using the MIP designed according to the theoretical predictions, a linear response for concentrations of homovanillic acid between 5 x 10(-8) and 1 x 10(-5) M can be obtained. The limit of detection is 7 x 10(-9) M. The selectivity obtained for homovanillic acid over other structurally related compounds buttresses the validity of this strategy of design.