Chromene "lock", thiol "key", and mercury(II) ion "hand": a single molecular machine recognition system

A regenerative, molecular machine-like "ON-OFF-ON" chemosensor based on a chromene molecule with the pyran ring "OFF-ON-OFF" cycle is reported for the first time. It behaves as a molecular lock that requires a thiol "key" to open the lock and a mercury(II) ion "hand" that unlatches the key for unsheathing the key to close the lock.     

环丙沙星分子印迹聚合物的合成及识别性能研究

采用分子印迹技术合成了以环丙沙星为印迹分子,以甲基丙烯酸和4-乙烯基吡啶同时为功能单体的分子印迹聚合物。运用平衡结合实验研究了印迹聚合物的吸附特性和选择识别能力。Scatchard分析表明,在所研究的浓度范围内,分子印迹聚合物中形成了两类不同的结合位点。底物选择实验表明,这种聚合物对环丙沙星呈现高的选择结合能力。     

Preparation and characterization of novel molecularly imprinted polymers based on thiourea receptors for nitrocompounds recognition

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for the recognition of nitro derivatives are prepared from three different (thio)urea-bearing functional monomers. The binding capability of the polymers is characterized by a batch binding experiment. The imprinting factors and affinity constants (K) of the imprinted polymers exhibit the same tendency as the binding constants (K_a) of the functional monomers to the target substance in solution. Not only nitrofurantoin is efficiently bound by these MIPs but also a broad spectrum of other nitro compounds is bound with at the intermediate level, addressing that these (thio)urea-based monomers can be utilized to prepare a family of MIPs for various nitro compounds, which can be applied as recognition elements in separation and analytical application.     

Quercetin molecularly imprinted polymers: Preparation, recognition characteristics and properties as sorbent for solid-phase extraction

Molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared through thermal polymerization by using quercetin as the template molecule, acrylamide (AA) as the functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as the cross-linker in the porogen of tetrahydrofuran (THF). The synthesized MIPs were identified by both Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Systematic investigations of the influences of key synthetic conditions, including functional monomers, porogens and cross-linkers, on the recognition properties of the MIPs were conducted. Scatchard analysis revealed that the homogeneous binding sites were formed in the polymers. Besides quercetin, two structurally similar compounds of rutin and catechol were employed for molecular recognition specificity tests of MIPs. It was observed that the MIPs exhibited the highest selective rebinding to quercetin. Accordingly, the MIPs were used as a solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbent for the extraction and enrichment of quercetin in cacumen platycladi samples, followed by HPLC-UV analysis. The application of MIPs with high affinity and excellent stereo-selectivity toward quercetin in SPE might offer a novel method for the enrichment and determination of flavonoid compounds in the natural products.     

Synthesis and anion recognition properties of pyrrole-bearing acyclic receptors

A new series of acyclic anion receptors (1-4) based on methyl 5-(aminomethyl)-1H-pyrrole-2-carboxylate were designed and synthesized. The anion recognition properties of these receptors were examined by ¹H NMR spectroscopy and rationalized by density functional theoretical calculation. Receptor 1 displays the highest affinity and selectivity for anionic guests mainly due to the intramolecular hydrogen bonds and rigid molecular geometry.     

冬凌草甲素分子印迹聚合物的制备及分子识别性能研究

以抗肿瘤药物分子冬凌草甲素为模板,甲基丙烯酸(MAA)为功能单体,乙二醇二甲基丙烯酸酯(ED-MA)作交联剂,采用沉淀聚合法和本体聚合法,制备对冬凌草甲素具有特定亲和选择性的分子印迹聚合物,并用激光粒度扫描和扫描电镜对聚合物的粒径和表面形貌进行了表征,采用平衡结合实验评价了两类分子印迹聚合物的吸附性能.结果表明,与使用...     

Monolithic molecularly imprinted polymer for sulfamethoxazole and molecular recognition properties in aqueous mobile phase

A monolithic molecularly imprinted polymer (monolithic MIP) for sulfamethoxazole (SMO) was prepared by in situ polymerization method as the HPLC stationary phase. By optimizing the polymerization conditions, the monolithic MIP showed highly specific recognition for the template SMO over its three structurally related analogs. As shown by SEM and the pore size distribution profile, the resultant MIP monolith showed a main pore diameter of 594 nm and a large specific surface area of 124 m² g⁻¹, this allowed the mobile phase to flow through the column with low backpressure. Furthermore, the recognition abilities of the monolithic MIP in aqueous and organic media were studied. The results exhibited that the monolithic MIP possessed excellent recognition ability in aqueous media. Hydrophobic interactions, in addition to shape recognition, were the dominant effect for recognition in the mobile phase with high water content. Moreover, the binding sites and the dissociation constant were also determined by frontal chromatography as 122 μmol g⁻¹ and 1.88 × 10⁻⁵ mol L⁻¹, respectively, which demonstrated that the obtained SMO-MIP monolith had a high binding capacity and strong affinity ability to the template molecule. Furthermore, the resultant SMO-MIP monolith was used as HPLC column directly to determine the SMO contents in three kinds of pharmaceutical tablets with the optimized aqueous mobile phase.     

The synthesis and recognition properties of colorimetric fluoride receptors bearing sulfonamide

Two artificial receptors, 1,2-bis-p-substituted phenyl-sulfonamido-4,5-bis-nitrobenzene, have been designed and synthesized. The interactions of these receptors with halide anions are determined by UV-vis and ¹H NMR titration experiments. Results indicate that two receptors have strong sensitivity and selectivity for fluoride among halide anions. In addition, the visible color changes upon the addition of fluoride anion can make the receptors as convenient detection tools for fluoride anion.     

发光性受体的分子设计与分子识别

介绍了发光受体的几种典型分子识别模型。从分子识别与超分子化学的角度综述了它们在分子离子识别中的应用。对近几年发展较快的分子印迹技术及其应用进行了综述。引用文献71篇。     

Medicinal chemistry in academia: molecular recognition with biological receptors

Why carry out medicinal chemistry at a university, when it means competing with the billion-dollar research efforts of the pharmaceutical industry? In academic research, the race to get a drug to market is not the prime motivation. Instead, university-based medicinal chemistry is driven by the search for new knowledge and the opportunity to educate a new generation of chemists. Furthermore, academia can complement commercial efforts by addressing diseases neglected by private industry.     

Influence of mobile phase composition and cross-linking density on the enantiomeric recognition properties of molecularly imprinted polymers

A series of experiments were conducted to investigate elements which affect the enantiomeric recognition properties of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) in the HPLC mode. Our results show that the recognition properties of MIPs are greatly influenced by the mobile phase used. For a polymer prepared in acetonitrile, a good enantiomeric separation was observed when acetonitrile-based mobile phase was used, when the mobile phase was changed to chloroform-based, no enantiomeric recognition was observed although the sample molecule was retarded. This indicates that the specific co-operative binding interactions between the functional groups at the imprinted polymer's recognition sites and the sample molecule were considerably disrupted and only non-specific interactions remained. When the mobile phase was changed back to acetonitrile-based, the recognition was regained. In contrast, for polymers prepared in chloroform, chloroform-based mobile phase gave much better separation than acetonitrile-based mobile phase. When other solvents were tested, significant solvent effects were generally observed. Based on these observations, the recognition properties of the methacrylic acid (MAA)-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) polymers were reinvestigated, and the results show that by simply using an optimised mobile phase system, significantly improved recognition over previously reported results was observed. For a polymer made against Cbz-L-Trp, 100 microg of Cbz-D,L-Trp was separated with a separation factor (alpha) of 4.23 and a resolution (Rs) of 3.87, whereas in the previous report, 10 microg of Cbz-D,L-Trp was only separated with alpha = 1.67 and Rs = 0.1. It is generally realised that the imprinted polymer's recognition property is also very much influenced by the nature of the polymer network. It was shown that the recognition decreased with a decrease in the apparent degree of cross-linking (molar percentage of cross-linker in the polymerisation mixture). Nonetheless, our results show that in our optimised assay system a significant separation could still be obtained on a polymer which was only 22% cross-linked. We consider this to be of importance, since it may suggest a way of imprinting larger molecules because of the possibly improved mass transfer in low cross-linking density polymers. It was reported that when trifunctional cross-linkers [for example: trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TRIM)] were used as the cross-linker instead of EGDMA, considerably improved enantiomeric separation and resolving capability were observed. Our results show that the improved performance of the MAA-co-EGDMA MIPs is actually comparable to the performance of the MIPs prepared with those trifunctional cross-linkers. The combination of a hydrogen bonding functional monomer (acrylamide) with TRIM also did not give improved recognition. The results suggest that although the three-dimensional network of these two kinds of polymer may be quite different, the observed recognition improvements were probably largely due to solvent effect.     

Molecular recognition of carbohydrates: evaluation of the binding properties of pyrazole-based receptors and their comparison with imidazole- and indole-based systems

The aim of the study was to evaluate the potential of pyrazole-based receptors in the complexation of carbohydrates. Representatives of a new series of acyclic pyrazole-based receptors were prepared and their binding properties toward selected mono- and disaccharides evaluated. The results of the binding studies were compared with those obtained for acyclic imidazole- and indole-based receptors. The first binding studies revealed di- vs monosaccharide binding preferences of the new receptors and showed that pyrazole units are useful building blocks for the construction of receptors with interesting binding preferences.     

The recognition and sensing of anions through "positive allosteric effects" using simple urea-amide receptors

The design, synthesis, and X-ray crystallographic analysis of three simple diaryl-urea based anion receptors possessing an amide moiety on one of the aryl groups, and an electron withdrawing CF(3) group on the other, is described. The three receptors differ only in the position of the amide functionality relative to the hydrogen bonding urea moiety (being para, meta, and ortho for 1, 2, and 3, respectively). This simple modification was shown to have a significant effect on the anion recognition ability, the strength of the recognition process, and the stoichiometry (host/guest) for these sensors. We demonstrate, by using both UV-vis absorption and (1)H NMR spectroscopy, that these factors are caused by the ability of the amide moiety to both modulate the anion binding selectivity and the sensitivity of the urea moiety. We also demonstrate that, in the case of 1 and 2, this anion recognition at the urea moiety leads to concomitant activation (through enhanced inductive effect) in the amide functionality toward anions, which leads to the formation of an overall 1:2 (sensor/anion) binding stoichiometry for these receptors. This "activation" we describe as being an example of a "positive allosteric activation" by the urea site, caused directly by the first anion binding interaction, which to the best of our knowledge, has not been previously demonstrated for anion recognition and sensing.     

Molecular recognition: improved binding of biotin derivatives with synthetic receptors

NMR titrations and Monte Carlo conformational searches have been used to study the molecular recognition features of five urea derivatives with two synthetic hosts. We have improved the binding constant (Kb) values for all the studied guests and measured the largest binding constant of a complex involving a biotin derivative (biotin methyl ester) bound to a synthetic host by means of several interaction points and not only through the urea moiety.     

Syntheses of steroid-based molecularly imprinted polymers and their molecular recognition study with spectrometric detection

Recognition of five steroid compounds, beta-estradiol, ethynylestradiol, estradiolbenzoate, testosterone and methyltestosterone were studied using a synthesized molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP). When beta-estradiol was used as the template molecule, the polymer was synthesized with methacrylic acid (MAA) as the functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross linking agent through non-covalent interactions. It is found that the kind of porogen solvent and the polymerization conditions greatly affected the binding ability of a MIP to a certain molecule. Releasing of the template was performed by continuous extraction with methanol containing 10% acetic acid in a Soxhlet extractor. Our results indicated that such carefully synthesized MIP showed specific affinity toward beta-estradiol in the adsorption process.     

Uniformly sized molecularly imprinted polymer for (S)-naproxen retention and molecular recognition properties in aqueous mobile phase

A uniformly sized molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for (S)-naproxen has been prepared by a multi-step swelling and polymerization method using 4-vinylpyridine (4-VPY) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as a functional monomer and cross-linker, respectively. We optimized the preparation method of the MIP by changing the molar amounts of the template molecule and functional monomer. Further, we examined the effects of organic modifier type, column temperature and flow-rate on the retentivity and enantioselectivity for naproxen using a mixture of phosphate buffer and organic modifier (acetonitrile, ethanol and 2-propanol) as an eluent. When the amounts of (S)-naproxen, 4-VPY and EDMA used were 4, 6 and 25 mmol, respectively, the enantioselectivity and resolution for naproxen were good despite the shorter retention. When acetonitrile was used as an organic modifier, the highest column efficiency was obtained for the separation of naproxen enantiomers. With regard to the effects of column temperature and flow-rate, the column performance was improved by elevating a column temperature and decreasing a flow-rate.     

Ditopic redox-active polyferrocenyl zinc(II) dithiocarbamate macrocyclic receptors: synthesis, coordination and electrochemical recognition properties

The synthesis of a range of ditopic polyferrocenyl zinc(II) dithiocarbamate macrocyclic receptors containing ferrocene groups on the macrocycle's periphery and/or as part of the cyclic cavity is reported. The assemblies have been characterised by a range of spectroscopic techniques, electrochemical studies and in two cases by X-ray structure determination. The ability of these host systems to bind and sense electrochemically anionic guest species, isonicotinate and benzoate, and neutral 4-picoline guest was examined by 1H NMR and cyclic voltammetric titration studies. The strongest association was found between the isonicotinate anion and a dinuclear zinc(II) receptor whose macrocyclic cavity is of complementary size to complex this bidentate guest species in a cooperative manner. Cyclic voltammetric studies demonstrated that all receptors can electrochemically sense the binding of isonicotinate and benzoate via significant cathodic perturbations of the respective ferrocene redox couple.