An Update on Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Design through a Computational Approach to Produce Molecular Recognition Material with Enhanced Analytical Performance

Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) computational design is expected to become a routine technique prior to synthesis to produce polymers with high affinity and selectivity towards target molecules. Furthermore, using these simulations reduces the cost of optimizing polymerization composition. There are several computational methods used in MIP fabrication and each requires a comprehensive study in order to select a process with results that are most similar to properties exhibited by polymers synthesized through laboratory experiments. Until now, no review has linked computational strategies with experimental results, which are needed to determine the method that is most appropriate for use in designing MIP with high molecular recognition. This review will present an update of the computational approaches started from 2016 until now on quantum mechanics, molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics that have been widely used. It will also discuss the linear correlation between computational results and the polymer performance tests through laboratory experiments to examine to what extent these methods can be relied upon to obtain polymers with high molecular recognition. Based on the literature search, density functional theory (DFT) with various hybrid functions and basis sets is most often used as a theoretical method to provide a shorter MIP manufacturing process as well as good analytical performance as recognition material.     

Phosphonate electrochemical recognition by molecularly imprinted deposited film

In this paper, thin films of titanium oxide imprinted with O,O-dimethyl-(2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetoxyl)(3′-nitrobenyl) methinephosphonate (Phi-NO₂) were prepared via liquid phase deposition (LPD) method on a glassy carbon electrode. The imprinted molecular in the films was removed by treatment with immersion in CH₂Cl₂. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electrochemical methods were introduced to show the evidence of the molecular imprinting phenomenon. It was also found that the recognition ability of the sensor depended on the substituents associated with tridimensional structures of the nitro-compounds. Under the optimized condition, the sensor showed better sensitivity, selectivity and reproducibility to the imprinted molecule and the linear relationship between the current and the concentration of analyte in the range of 0.1-50 μM was obtained. LPD proved to be a powerful method for imprinting titanium oxide thin sense films.     

LC Packing Materials for Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis

 The author has prepared novel liquid chromatography (LC) packing materials for pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis. Those include LC packing materials for direct serum injection assays of drugs and their metabolites, LC packing materials for resolution of enantiomeric drugs, and uniformly sized molecularly imprinted polymers for drugs and their metabolites.     

基于MCM-41分子筛表面的镱离子印迹聚合物的制备及其性能

运用离子印迹技术,以3-氯丙基三乙氧基硅烷为锚定剂,将功能单体直链聚乙烯亚胺(PEI)接枝在MCM-41分子筛表面,选择镱离子作为模板离子,以环氧氯丙烷交联制备出基于MCM-41表面的镱离子印迹聚合物Yb(Ⅲ)-IIP-PEI/MCM-41,并以同样的方法制备非离子印迹聚合物(NIP-PEI/MCM-41)。 利用傅里叶变换红外光谱仪和扫描电子显微镜等技术手段对Yb³⁺印迹聚合物进行表征,采用静态吸附法确定了Yb(Ⅲ)-IIP-PEI/MCM-41对Yb³⁺的最佳吸附条件及选择性吸附性能。 结果表明,Yb(Ⅲ)-IIP-PEI/MCM-41和NIP-PEI/MCM-41的最大吸附量分别为229.93和99.27 mg/g;印迹材料对Yb³⁺的吸附符合Langmuir模型;吸附平衡在40 min的时候基本可以达到,可以利用准二级动力学模型来描述其吸附过程;Yb(Ⅲ)-IIP-PEI/MCM-41对Yb³⁺具有较强的选择性,同时也具有很好的重复使用性能。 成功地将MCM-41和离子印迹聚合物的优点结合起来,制备出一种对稀土Yb离子既有高吸附量又有高选择性的吸附材料,为进一步将其应用在处理实际废水,分离回收低浓度稀土废水中的稀土元素等方面打下了基础。     

Biomimetic piezoelectric quartz sensor for caffeine based on a molecularly imprinted polymer

A piezoelectric quartz sensor coated with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for caffeine was developed. The MIP was prepared by co-polymerizing methacrylic acid (MAA) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) in the presence of azobis(isobutyronitrile) as initiator, caffeine as template molecule, and chloroform as solvent. The MIP suspension in polyvinyl chloride/tetrahydrofuran (6:2:1 w/w/v) solution was spin coated onto the surface of the electrode of a 10 MHz AT-cut quartz crystal. The sensor exhibited a linear relationship between the frequency shift and caffeine concentration in the range of 1×10^–7 mg mL^–1 up to 1x10^–3 mg mL^–1 [correlation coefficient (r)=0.9935] in a stopped flow measurement mode. It has a sensitivity of about 24 Hz/ln(concentration, mg mL^–1). A steady-state response was achieved in less than 10 min. The performance characteristic of the sensor shows a promising and inexpensive alternative method of detecting caffeine. Surface studies were carried out for the reagent phase of the sensor using SEM, AFM, and XPS analysis in order to elucidate the imprinting of the caffeine molecule. The SEM micrograph, AFM image, and XPS spectra confirmed the removal of caffeine by Soxhlet extraction in the imprinting process and the rebinding of caffeine to the MIP sensing layer during measurement.     

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.     

L-卡尼丁分子压印聚合物作为手性分离色谱固定相的研究

以L－卡尼丁为模板分子，分别以α－甲基丙烯酸和丙烯酰胺为功能单体，乙二醇二甲基丙烯酸酯为 剂，采用分子压印技术合成了对L－卡尼丁具有高选择性的分子压印聚合物。将所得聚合物用作高效液相色谱固定相，研究了它们对外消旋卡尼丁盐酸盐的拆分能力，分析结果表明，α－甲基丙烯酸作为功能单体所得聚合物对外消旋卡尼丁盐酸盐具有良好的拆分作用，其分离因子α为1．89。     

The Surface Imprinted Polystyrene Beads Prepared via Emulsion Templates

In this paper, the surface imprinted cross-linked polystyrene beads were prepared via suspension polymerization with styrene (St), divinylbezene (DVB), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA1788),the mixture of Span 85 and xylene or the mixture of Span 85 and paraffin as monomer,cross-linking agent, dispersion stabilizer and templates, respectively. The results indicate that there are dense cavities on the surface of beads, and the diameter and density of cavity are related with the composition and amount of emulsion template. The forming mechanism of cavity from thermodynamics and dynamics was proposed.     

基于金属介导和离子液体的新型绿原酸印迹整体柱的制备及评价

选用1-乙烯基-3-乙基咪唑四氟硼酸盐([VElm]BF4,一种离子液体)作为功能单体,以Co2+为介导离子,结合1-丁基-3-甲基咪唑四氟硼酸盐([BMIM]BF4)/二甲基亚砜(DMSO)二元致孔体系制备了绿原酸印迹整体柱。经过对制备参数的考察,确定最佳比例为绿原酸:Co2+:[VElm]BF4:EDMA(乙二醇二甲基丙烯酸酯)(摩尔比)=1:1:5:20,[BMIM]BF4:DMSO=3:1(V/V),最大印迹因子达2.10。通过优化色谱条件,最终在乙腈:20 mmol/L乙酸钠缓冲液(pH 4.2)=70:30(V/V)时实现了绿原酸及其类似物的完全分离。由此可见,以离子液体为功能单体及致孔剂,在金属介导策略下制备的分子印迹聚合物可实现绿原酸的特异性识别及分离。     

Picolinamide-Cu(Ac)2-imprinted polymer with high potential for recognition of picolinamide-copper acetate complex

In this report, with semi-empirical quantum method, we have studied the conformation and energy of supermolecule composed of picolinamide and its positional isomers with methacrylic acid. We tried to explore the reason why picolinamide was not likely to show imprinting effect when using methacrylic acid as functional monomer in our previous work. In order to produce imprinting effect, which was not achieved based on hydrogen bonding interaction, we have synthesized a molecular-imprinted polymer (MIP) based on copper ion coordination in prepolymerization. The complex in prepolymerization was composed of copper(II), acetate, picolinamide and 4-vinylpyridine (4-Vpy). Suprisingly, the MIP had high selectivity to picolinamide-copper acetate complex, and changes of either copper ion, picolinamide or acetate would result in decrease in the imprinting effect. This is also the first example where the high selective recognition of the MIP to its template was achieved mainly by inhibiting the binding of non-template rather than enhancing the binding of the template. And this report can be also looked upon as a first step towards the solution to the problem of imprinting of template that contains intramolecular hydrogen bond.