Smart surface imprinting polymer nanospheres for selective recognition and separation of glycoprotein

• Published in: Colloids and surfaces. A, Physicochemical and engineering aspects Vol. 433; pp. 191 - 199
• Main Authors: Gao, Feng-Xian, Ma, Xiao-Tong, He, Xi-Wen, Li, Wen-You, Zhang, Yu-Kui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.09.2013
• Subjects: acrylamides; Adsorption; colloids; Covalent bonds; Covalent immobilization; egg albumen; Glycoprotein; glycoproteins; Molecular imprinting; Nanosphere; Nanospheres; Ovalbumin; Polymerization; polymers; Recognition; Separation; Surface chemistry; Surface imprinting; temperature; Ovalbumin; Nanosphere; Surface imprinting; Covalent immobilization; Molecular imprinting
• ISSN: 0927-7757; 1873-4359
• DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2013.05.018

•Surface imprinting nanosphere was prepared using covalent template immobilization.•The imprinted nanospheres could rebind the template glycoprotein.•The rebinding affinity of the imprinted nanospheres was thermo- and pH-dependent.•High adsorption, fast rebinding kinetics, excellent selectivity and reusability.•The applicability was favorable in a real sample analysis. Through covalent immobilization of template and surface imprinting, smart molecularly imprinted polymer nanospheres were developed for selective separation of the glycoprotein ovalbumin (OB). First, a boronic acid group-bearing poly (methyl methacrylate) (b-PMMA) nanosphere was synthesized directly at the high temperature of 70°C. The b-PMMA nanosphere could pre-immobilize the template OB on its surface by forming reversible covalent bonds. Then the precipitation polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and acrylamide (AAm) readily occurred on the b-PMMA nanosphere as a core at room temperature, leading to the formation of core–shell molecular imprinting nanosphere. The experiments showed the rebinding affinity of the imprinted nanospheres was thermo- and pH-dependent. The resulting imprinted nanospheres showed high adsorption capacity and good specific recognition behavior toward the template molecule, and no obvious reusability deterioration was observed. Most notably, the imprinted nanospheres reached saturated adsorption within 20min, indicating faster rebinding kinetics. In addition, the imprinted nanospheres were successfully applied to selectively separate the target OB from an egg white sample.