Low cross-linked molecularly imprinted monolithic column prepared in molecular crowding conditions

Molecular crowding is a new approach to promoting molecular imprinting more efficiently. In this work, this concept was applied to the preparation of low cross-linked imprinted polymers in the presence of an immobilised template for stabilizing binding sites and improving molecular recognition. An imprinted monolithic column was synthesized using a mixture of 2,4-diamino-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazine (template), 2,4-diamino-6-(methacryloyloxy) ethyl-1,3,5-triazine (polymerisable template), methacrylic acid, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and polystyrene (molecular crowding agent). Some polymerization factors, such as template-monomer molar ratio, the composition of the porogen and crosslinking density, on the imprinting effect of resulting MIP monolith were systematically investigated. The results indicated that the imprinted monolithic columns prepared in the presence of molecular crowding agent retained affinity and specificity for template even when prepared with a level of cross-linker as low as 9%. Moreover, a stoichiometric displacement model for retention was successfully applied to evaluate the interaction between the solute and the stationary phase. Compared with the low cross-linked MIP prepared by conventional polymerization, the molecular crowding-based low cross-linked monolithic MIPs showed higher selectivity. The results suggested that molecular crowding is a powerful strategy to increase the effect of molecular imprinting at a low level of crosslinker.     

Preparation and characterization of a molecularly imprinted monolithic column for pressure‐assisted CEC separation of nitroimidazole drugs

A polymethacrylate‐based molecularly imprinted monolithic column bearing mixed functional monomers, using non‐covalent imprinting approach, was designed for the rapid separation of nitroimidazole compounds. The new monolithic column has been prepared via simple in situ polymerization of 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate, dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate and ethylene dimethacrylate, using (S)‐ornidazole ((S)‐ONZ) as template in a binary porogenic mixture consisting of toluene and dodecanol. The composition of the polymerization mixture was systematically altered and optimized by altering the amount of monomers as well as the composition of the porogenic solvent. The column performance was evaluated in pressure‐assisted CEC mode. Separation conditions such as pH, voltage, amount of organic modifier and salt concentration were studied. The optimized monolithic column resulted in excellent separation of a group of structurally related nitroimidazole drugs within 10 min in isocratic elution condition. Column efficiencies of 99 000, 80 000, 103 000, 60 000 and 99 000 plates/m were obtained for metronidazole, secnidazole, ronidazole, tinidazole and dimetridazole, respectively. Parallel experiments were carried out using molecularly imprinted and non‐imprinted capillary columns. The separation might be the result of combined effects including hydrophobic, hydrogen bonding and the imprinting cavities on the (S)‐ONZ‐imprinted monolithic column.     

Preparation of imprinted monolithic column under molecular crowding conditions

Molecular crowding is a new concept to obtain molecularly imprinted polymers(MIPs) with greater capacity and selectivity.In this work,molecular crowding agent was firstly applied to the preparation of MIPs monolithic column.A new polymerization system based on molecular crowding surrounding was developed to prepare enrofloxacin-imprinted monolith,which was composed of polystyrene and tetrahydrofuran.The result showed that the monolithic MIPs under molecular crowding conditions presented good molecular recognition for enrofloxacin with an imprinting factor of 3.03.     

A molecularly imprinted monolith for the fast chiral separation of antiparasitic drugs by pressurized CEC

Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) monoliths with (S)‐ornidazole ((S)‐ONZ) as the template molecule have been designed and prepared by the simple thermal polymerization of methacrylic acid, 4‐vinylpyridine, and ethylene dimethacrylate in the presence of a binary porogenic mixture of toluene and dodecanol. The influences of polymerization mixture composition on the chiral recognition of ONZ have been evaluated, and the imprint effect in the optimized MIP monolith has been clearly demonstrated. The new monolithic stationary phase with optimized porous property and good selectivity was used for the chiral separation of ONZ by pressurized CEC. The pressurized CEC conditions were also optimized to obtain the good chiral separation. The enantiomers were rapidly separated within 9 min on the MIP‐based chiral stationary phase, whereas the chiral separation was not obtained on the nonimprinted polymer. Additionally, the proposed method has been successfully applied to the chiral separation of ONZ in tablet samples by injection of the crude sample. The cross‐selectivity for similar antiparasitic drug was investigated. The results indicated that the chiral separation of secnidazole could also be obtained on the optimized MIP monolith within 14 min.     

Preparation of temperature sensitive molecularly imprinted polymer for solid-phase microextraction coatings on stainless steel fiber to measure ofloxacin

A kind of new temperature sensitive molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) with ofloxacin (OFL) as template was prepared for the coating of solid phase microextraction (SPME). Dopamine was self-polymerized on stainless steel fiber (SSF) as the SPME support followed by silanization. Then MIP was synthesized as SPME coating on the modified SSF in a capillary, with N-isopropyl acrylamide as temperature sensitive monomer and methacrylic acid as functional monomer. The synthesis could be well repeated with multiple capillaries putting in the same reaction solution. The obtained MIP fiber was evaluated in detail with different techniques and various adsorption experiments. At last the MIP fiber was used to extract the OFL in milk. Satisfied recoveries between 89.7 and 103.4% were obtained with the limit of quantification (LOQ_LC) of 0.04 μg mL⁻¹ by the method of SPME coupled with high performance of liquid chromatography (HPLC).     

Open tubular layer of S‐ofloxacin imprinted polymer fabricated in silica capillary for chiral CEC separation

An open tubular molecule imprinted polymer (OT‐MIP) capillary column has been prepared for chiral separation of ofloxacin enantiomers in CEC. The S‐ofloxacin imprinted OT column was fabricated by thermally initiated non‐covalent polymerization procedure inside a pretreated and silanized fused silica capillary. The template molecule was incorporated with methacrylic acid (MAA), ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) and 4‐styrenesulfonic acid (4‐SSA) and dissolved in a porogen mixture of ACN/2‐propanol (9:1). The separation efficiency of the 4‐SSA MIP column was found quite better than that of the MIP column without 4‐SSA. It has been demonstrated that our OT‐MIP column can separate ofloxacin enantiomers with excellent chiral separation efficiency after tuning the various chromatographic conditions. The optimized chromatographic eluent was 85:15, v/v%, ACN/60 mM sodium acetate at pH 7. The separation efficiency and selectivity of chiral separation of this study were far better than those obtained by previous methods for chiral separation of R‐ and S‐ofloxacin.     

Determination of ofloxacin and lomefloxacin in chicken muscle using molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid chromatography

A new molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) procedure combined with liquid chromatography was developed for the simultaneous selective extraction and determination of ofloxacin (OFL) and lomefloxacin (LOM) in chicken muscle samples. The water-compatible molecularly imprinted microspheres (MIMs) were synthesized by aqueous suspension polymerization using 2-hydroxy-3-naphthoic acid and 1-methylpiperazine as mimic templates. The MIMs applied as selective sorbents in SPE method showed high selectivity and affinity to OFL and LOM in complex biological matrices. Good linearity was obtained in a range of 0.025-2.0 μg/g, and the average recoveries of OFL and LOM at three spiked levels ranged from 94.4 to 96.9%, respectively, with the relative standard deviation ≤4.7%. The developed MISPE-HPLC method was successfully applied to the isolation of OFL and LOM in chicken muscles, which demonstrated the potential ability of the novel MIMs for selective extraction of fluoroquinolones in biological samples.     

Biotin-specific synthetic receptors prepared using molecular imprinting

The composition of new molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) specific for biotin was optimised using molecular modelling software. Three functional monomers: methacrylic acid (MAA), 2-(trifluoromethyl)acrylic acid (TFAA) and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPSA), which demonstrated the highest binding scores with biotin, were tested on their ability to generate specific binding sites. The imprinted polymers were photografted to the surface of polystyrene microspheres in water. The affinity of the synthetic “receptor” sites was evaluated in binding experiments using horseradish peroxidase-labelled biotin. Good correlation was found between the modelling results and the performance of the materials in the template re-binding study. The dissociation constants for all MIPs were 1.4-16.8 nM, which is sufficient for most analytical applications where biotin is used as a label.     

Molecularly imprinted polymers with halogen bonding-based molecular recognition sites

Molecular recognition materials bearing halogen bonding-based binding sites were synthesized by a non-covalent imprinting technique using a 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-4-iodostyrene (TFIS) as the functional monomer. The binding sites were generated by co-polymerizing TFIS, styrene and divinylbenzene in the presence of the template molecule (4-dimethylaminopyridine—DMAP). The imprinted polymer preferentially adsorbed aminopyridine derivatives, suggesting that halogen bonding may play a role in the selective recognition of analytes by the synthesized synthetic receptor.     

Preparation and characterization of grafted imprinted monolith for capillary electrochromatography

In this paper, a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) coating grafted to a trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TRIM) core material for CEC was reported. The core monolith was prepared with a solution of 20% (w/w) TRIM in a mixture of porogen and a polymerization precursor, which can generate a stable electroosmotic flow due to the formation of ionizable groups after postpolymerization hydrolization. Graft polymerization took place on the resultant TRIM monolith with a mixture of template, methacrylic acid, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate. Strong recognition ability (selectivity factor was 5.83) for S‐amlodipine and resolution of enatiomers separation (up to 7.99) were obtained on the resulting grafted imprinted monolith in CEC mode. The influence of CEC conditions on chiral separation, including the composition of mobile phase, pH value, and the operating voltages was studied. These results suggest that the method of grafted polymerization reported here allows a rapid development of MIP monolith once core materials with desired properties are available, and is a good alternative to prepare CEC‐based monolithic MIPs.     

Novel preparation of monolithic imprinted columns for electrochromatographic separation by photopolymerization

A monolithic molecularly imprinted polymer with specific recognition ability for 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HBA) was prepared by in situ photopolymerization, using methacrylic acid (MAA) as a functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as a cross-linking agent, toluene and isooctane as porogenic solvents and Irgacure 1800 as an initiator. Baseline separation of isomers of hydroxybenzoic acid was achieved in less than 8 min on this monolithic column using 4-HBA as template, but not on the blank polymer. Furthermore, some neutral compounds could also be baseline-separated on the imprinted polymer column in the mode of pressure-driven capillary electrochromatography.     

Selective separation of magnolol using molecularly imprinted membranes

Molecularly imprinted membranes (MIMs) for selective separation of magnolol were prepared by thermal polymerization using magnolol as the template, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross‐linker, 2,2‐azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the initiator, organic solvent as the porogen, methacrylamide (MAM) and acrylic acid (AA) as the functional monomers and cellulose acetate as the agglutinant. Commercial filter paper was used as the supporting material. The effects of different porogens and the ratio of functional monomers on the binding and recognition capacity of MIMs were investigated, and the morphology of the membranes was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the MIMs have the highest selectivity to magnolol when the ratio of MAM/AA was 1:4 and tetrahydrofuran (THF) with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was used as the porogen. The morphology of the imprinted membranes after template extracting is much rougher with big cavities than that of the non‐imprinted membranes (NIMs) and the imprinted membranes before template extracting. The MIMs can selectively separate the magnolol.     

Development of a molecularly imprinted polymer for pyridoxine using an ion-pair as template

One of the main challenges in the molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) field is the proper MIP design for water-soluble compounds because of appearance of serious drawbacks in polar solvents and insolubility of those compounds in non-polar solvents which are commonly used for MIP synthesis. In this work a novel and simple method for synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers for a water-soluble compound was introduced. Pyridoxine was chosen as a target molecule and the ion-pair complex formed between pyridoxine ion (Py⁺) and dodecyl sulfate ion (DS⁻) was transferred into the chloroform via liquid-liquid extraction. Then polymerization was carried out in chloroform. The molecular mechanics and density functional theory were proposed to screen proper monomer. Binding energy, ΔE, of a template and a monomer as a measure of their interaction was considered. Ion-pair [Py⁺-DS⁻] was supposed as a template molecule and acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, allyamine, vinylpridine and 2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate were as tested monomers. The MIP synthesized using acrylic acid showed the highest selectivity to pyridoxine as predicted from the ΔE calculation. The obtained MIP showed very high affinity against vitamin B6 in comparison to non-imprinted polymers (NIP). It was proved that the obtained MIP with introduced method was much better than that prepared in methanol as porogen. It was showed that the MIP prepared by this new method could be used as an adsorber for extraction and determination of pyridoxine in real and synthetic samples.     

Preparation of open tubular molecule imprinted polymer capillary columns with various templates by a generalized procedure and their chiral and non‐chiral separation performance in CEC

A generalized preparation procedure of open tubular (OT) molecule imprinted polymer (MIP) columns is proposed for a number of templates with acidic functionality such as profen drugs and others. The template (S‐enantiomer) was mixed with methacrylic acid, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate and 4‐styrenesulfonic acid, dissolved in a porogen mixture of ACN/2‐propanol (9/1), and incubated in a pretreated and silanized fused silica capillary by the thermal non‐covalent polymerization procedure. The whole preparation procedure was exactly the same for all the MIP capillaries except for the selection of template. Nevertheless, the morphologies of the MIP layers were markedly variant depending upon the choice of template. The separation efficiency of each OT‐MIP column for chiral separation of R‐ and S‐enantiomers was examined and tuned to obtain the best separation efficiency by changing the chromatographic parameters such as eluent composition and pH. Different optimized conditions were obtained for different OT‐MIP columns. Nevertheless, a unified eluent could be used to obtain still quite satisfactory results. Non‐chiral separation of the MIP columns were also examined in the unified eluent with two sets of test mixtures, that is, a mixture of alkylbenzenes and a mixture of small polar solutes. The chiral and non‐chiral separation of this study resulted in very good separation efficiencies. This work is the very first study for the generalization of preparation of OT‐MIP columns for a number of templates.     

Preparation of a novel molecularly imprinted polymer using a water-soluble crosslinking agent

A molecularly imprinted polymer was prepared using a water-soluble crosslinking agent. An ionic complex was utilized as the assembly for the template molecule and the functional monomer, and water as porogenic solvent during preparation of the imprinted polymer. The results of chromatographic evaluations for the prepared polymer suggested that the polymer had much lower hydrophobicity compared with usual octadecyl group bonded silica or the usual molecular imprinted polymer prepared from ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate, and the selective recognition ability for template molecule in the completely aqueous condition.     

Chiral separation by （S）-naproxen imprinted monolithic column with mixed functional monomers

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), using (S)-naproxen as template and the combination of butyl methacrylate (BMA) and MAA (1:1 molar ratio) as functional monomers were synthesized by an in situ polymerization reaction. The rendered monolithic column was evaluated in HPLC mode. The result showed that the monolithic MIPs with the combination of two monomers produced better chiral resolution of rac-naproxen (Rs=1.55) and column efficiencies of imprinted molecules (N=2860 plates/m)than that with pure MAA.     

Selective separation and enrichment of glibenclamide in health foods using surface molecularly imprinted polymers prepared via dendritic grafting of magnetic nanoparticles

In this paper, the novel surface molecularly imprinted polymers based on dendritic‐grafting magnetic nanoparticles were developed to enrich and separate glibenclamide in health foods. The density functional theory method was used to give theoretical directions to the synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers. The polymers were prepared by using magnetic nanoparticles as supporting materials, methacrylic acid as the functional monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the cross‐linker. The characteristics of magnetic nanoparticles and polymers were measured by transmission electron microscope and SEM, respectively. The enriching ability of molecularly imprinted polymers was measured by Freundlich Isotherm. The molecularly imprinted polymers were used as dispersive SPE materials to enrich, separate, and detect glibenclamide in health foods by HPLC. The average recoveries of glibenclamide in spiked health foods were 81.46–93.53% with the RSD < 4.07%.     

Molecularly imprinted polymers—potential and challenges in analytical chemistry

Among the variety of biomimetic recognition schemes utilizing supramolecular approaches molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have proven their potential as synthetic receptors in numerous applications ranging from liquid chromatography to assays and sensor technology. Their inherent advantages compared to biochemical/biological recognition systems include robustness, storage endurance and lower costs. However, until recently only few contributions throughout the relevant literature describe quantitative analytical applications of MIPs for practically relevant analyte molecules and real-world samples. Increased motivation to thoroughly evaluate the true potential of MIP technology is clearly attributed to the demands of modern analytical chemistry, which include enhanced sensitivity, selectivity and applicability of molecular recognition building blocks at decreasing costs. In particular, the areas of environmental monitoring, food and beverage analysis and industrial process surveillance require analytical tools capable of discriminating chemicals with high molecular specificity considering increasing numbers of complex environmental contaminants, pollution of raw products and rigorous quality control requested by legislation and consumer protection. Furthermore, efficient product improvement and development of new products requires precise qualitative and quantitative analytical methods. Finally, environmental, food and process safety control issues favor the application of on-line in situ analytical methods with high molecular selectivity. While biorecognition schemes frequently suffer from degrading bioactivity and long-term stability when applied in real-world sample environments, MIPs serving as synthetic antibodies have successfully been applied as stationary phase separation matrix (e.g. HPLC and SPE), recognition component in bioassays (e.g. ELISA) or biomimetic recognition layer in chemical sensor systems. Examples such as MIP-based selective analysis of flavones/flavonoids in wine, the determination of mycotoxins in beverages and analysis of organic contaminants in environment samples will elucidate the perspectives of this technology and will be contrasted with the challenges of rational MIP design providing control on binding site density, receptor capacity and selectivity.     

Electroosmotic pump‐supported molecularly imprinted monolithic column for capillary chromatographic separation of nitrophenol isomers

In this work, a novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) monolithic column with integrated in‐column electroosmotic pump (EOP) was designed and successfully prepared to facilitate the capillary chromatography with MIP column. A silica‐based EOP was synthesized at the detection end of the MIP monolithic capillary column by so‐gel to provide the hydrodynamic driven force for the capillary chromatography. Because of large surface area and low fluidic resistance of the silica monolith,a strong and steady EOF was generated by silica‐based EOP, indicating that the EOP was quite compatible with MIP capillary column. With the sufficient EOF provided by EOP, the electro‐driven based capillary chromatographic separation of nitrophenol isomers was achieved in 4‐vinylpyridine‐based MIP monolithic capillary, which was originally proved infeasible because of the EOF shortage. No significant influence upon the specific recognition of the MIP was found due to the setting of EOP after the detection window of the column. The influence of experimental parameters on the EOF such as voltage and pH value of running buffer was investigated. The column was also evaluated by capillary liquid chromatographic mode to compare with EOP‐driven capillary chromatography. Higher column efficiency was obtained by EOP‐driven separation with improved peak shape. The results suggested that EOP‐supported technique would be a good way to solve the problem of weak EOF generation in electro‐driven capillary chromatography.     

Amperometric morphine sensing using a molecularly imprinted polymer-modified electrode

This study incorporates morphine into a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for the amperometric detection of morphine. The polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PEDOT, is an electroactive film that catalyzes morphine oxidation and lowers the oxidization potential on an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode. The MIP-PEDOT modified electrode is prepared by electropolymerizing PEDOT onto an ITO electrode in a 0.1 M LiClO₄ solution with template addition (morphine). After template molecule extraction, the oxidizing current of the MIP-PEDOT modified electrode is measured in a 0.1 M KCl solution (pH = 5.3) at 0.75 V (versus Ag/AgCl/sat’d KCl) with the morphine concentration varying in the 0.1-5 mM range. A linear range, displaying the relationship between steady-state currents and morphine concentrations, from 0.1 to 1 mM, is obtained. The proposed amperometric sensor could be used for morphine detection with a sensitivity of 91.86 μA/cm² per mM. A detection limit of 0.2 mM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 is achieved. Moreover, the proposed method can discriminate between morphine and its analogs, such as codeine.