Molecularly imprinted polymer based on chemiluminescence imaging for the chiral recognition of dansyl-phenylalanine

A new molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)–chemiluminescence (CL) imaging detection approach towards chiral recognition of dansyl-phenylalanine (Phe) is presented. The polymer microspheres were synthesized using precipitation polymerization with dansyl-l-Phe as template. Polymer microspheres were immobilized in microtiter plates (96 wells) using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as glue. The analyte was selectively adsorbed on the MIP microspheres. After washing, the bound fraction was quantified based on peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence (PO-CL) analysis. In the presence of dansyl-Phe, bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)oxalate (TCPO) reacted with hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) to emit chemiluminescence. The signal was detected and quantified with a highly sensitive cooled charge-coupled device (CCD). Influencing factors were investigated and optimized in detail. Control experiments using capillary electrophoresis showed that there was no significant difference between the proposed method and the control method at a confidence level of 95%. The method can perform 96 independent measurements simultaneously in 30 min and the limits of detection (LODs) for dansyl-l-Phe and dansyl-d-Phe were 0.025 μmol L⁻¹ and 0.075 μmol L⁻¹ (3σ), respectively. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for 11 parallel measurements of dansyl-l-Phe (0.78 μmol L⁻¹) was 8%. The results show that MIP-based CL imaging can become a useful analytical technology for quick chiral recognition.