Post-oxidative conversion of thiol residue to sulfonic acid in the binding sites of molecularly imprinted polymers: disulfide based covalent molecular imprinting for basic compounds

An imprinted polymer using a disulfide derivative as a template was treated with NaBH4 to yield the polymer with thiol groups in the binding sites. The thiol groups were then oxidized with H2O2/AcOH to yield the molecularly imprinted polymer with sulfo groups in the binding sites. This site conversion can provide amine-imprinted polymers, in which amine is retained to the imprinted polymer by the strong electrostatic interaction between the amino group and the sulfo group in the binding sites.