Interfacial Molecular Imprinting in Nanoparticle-Stabilized Emulsions

• Published in: Macromolecules Vol. 44; no. 14; pp. 5631 - 5637
• Main Authors: Shen, Xiantao, Ye, Lei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 26.07.2011
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Biokemi och molekylärbiologi; Biologi; Biological Sciences; Copolymerization; Epitopes; Exact sciences and technology; Imprinting; Macromolecules; microspheres; Monomers; nanoparticles; Natural Sciences; Naturvetenskap; Organic polymers; Physicochemistry of polymers; Polymerization; Pores; Preparation, kinetics, thermodynamics, mechanism and catalysts; Silica; Aminoalcohol; Emulsion copolymerization; Nanoparticle; Experimental study; Silica; Crosslinked copolymer; Methacrylic acid copolymer; Sorption; Binding capacity; Aqueous medium; Template polymerization; Morphology; Preparation; Microparticle; Kinetics; Methacrylate copolymer; Spherical particle; Radical copolymerization; Propranolol; Molecular imprinting; Beta blocking agent; Modified material
• ISSN: 0024-9297; 1520-5835
• DOI: 10.1021/ma200837n

A new interfacial nano and molecular imprinting approach is developed to prepare spherical molecularly imprinted polymers with well-controlled hierarchical structures. This method is based on Pickering emulsion polymerization using template-modified colloidal particles. The interfacial imprinting is carried out in particle-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions, where the molecular template is presented on the surface of silica nanoparticles during the polymerization of the monomer phase. After polymerization, the template-modified silica nanoparticles are removed from the new spherical particles to leave tiny indentations decorated with molecularly imprinted sites. The imprinted microspheres prepared using the new interfacial nano and molecular imprinting have very interesting features: a well-controlled hierarchical structure composed of large pores decorated with easily accessible molecular binding sites, group selectivity toward a series of chemicals having a common structural moiety (epitopes), and a hydrophilic surface that enables the MIPs to be used under aqueous conditions.