Photoconjugation of molecularly imprinted polymer with magnetic nanoparticles

Fabrication and characterization of magnetic mesoporous nanoparticles for efficient determination and magnetic separation of sulfonamides in food samples

A magnetic, mesoporous core/shell structured Fe3O4@SiO2@mSiO2 nanocomposite was synthesized and employed as a magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) sorbent for the determination of trace sulfonamides (SAs) in food samples. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, N2 sorption analysis and vibrating sample magnetometry. The results showed that Fe3O4@SiO2@mSiO2 possessed a mesoporous structure with a large surface area. Batch experiments were carried out to investigate the adsorption ability for SAs. Fe3O4@SiO2@mSiO2 showed fast kinetics and high adsorption capacity, and the pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir adsorption isotherm are well fitted with the experimental data, indicating that chemical adsorption might be the rate-limiting step. Moreover, the high adsorption capacity can be maintained for at least 8 runs, indicating excellent stability and reusability. The proposed method exhibited good linearity in the range of 0.2-500 μg L-1, the R2 values of all the analytes were greater than 0.99 and the LODs were all lower than 0.2 μg L-1. Furthermore, real food samples were successfully analyzed with Fe3O4@SiO2@mSiO2 and high recoveries varying from 89.7% and 110.6% were obtained with low relative standard deviations ranging from 1.78% to 6.91%. The Fe3O4@SiO2@mSiO2 magnetic nanocomposite is a promising sorbent for the efficient extraction of SAs from complex food samples.

Determination of total cathinones with a single molecularly imprinted fluorescent sensor assisted by electromembrane microextraction

An electromembrane microextraction (EME)-assisted fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) sensing method is presented for detecting the total cathinone drugs in urine samples. In this detection system, the clean-up ability of EME eliminated the matrix effects on both target binding with MIPs and the luminescence of the fluorophore in the sensor. Moreover, by optimizing the extraction conditions of EME, different cathinone drugs with a same concentration show a same response on the single aggregation induced emission (AIE) based MIP (AIE-MIP) sensor (λ_ex = 360 nm, λ_em = 467 nm). The recoveries were 57.9% for cathinone (CAT) and 78.2% for methcathinone (MCAT). The EME-assisted "light-up" AIE-MIP sensing method displayed excellent performance with a linear range of 2.0-12.0 μmol L^-1 and a linear determination coefficient (R²) of 0.99. The limit of detection (LOD) value for EME-assisted "light-up" AIE-MIP sensing method was 0.3 μmol L^-1. The relative standard deviation (RSD) values for the detection were found to be within the range 2.0-12.0%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that determination of total illicit drugs with a single fluorescent MIP sensor was achieved and also the first utilization of sample preparation to tune the sensing signal of the sensor to be reported. We believe that this versatile combination of fluorescent MIP sensor and sample preparation can be used as a common protocol for sensing the total amount of a group of analytes in various fields.

Photoconjugation of temperature- and pH-responsive polymer with silica nanoparticles for separation and enrichment of bacteria

A new photoconjugation approach was developed to prepare nanoparticle-supported boronic acid polymer for effective separation and enrichment of bacteria. The photo-activated polymer immobilization was demonstrated by coupling an azide-modified copolymer of N-isopropylacrylamide and glycidyl methacrylate to a perfluorophenyl azide-modified silica surface. The thermoresponsive polymer was synthesized using reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization followed by conversion of the pendant epoxides into azide groups. The perfluorophenyl azide-modified silica nanoparticles were synthesized by an amidation reaction between amino-functionalized silica and pentafluorobenzoyl chloride, and a subsequent treatment with sodium azide. Bacteria-capturing boronic acid was conjugated to the silica-supported polymer chains via Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) click reaction. The particle size, morphology and organic content of the composite nanoparticles were characterized systematically. The capability of the nanocomposite to bind Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria was investigated. The nanocomposite exhibited high binding capacities for E. coli (13.4 × 10⁷ CFU/mg) and S. epidermidis (7.66 × 10⁷ CFU/mg) in phosphate buffered saline. The new photoconjugation strategy enables fast and straightforward grafting of functional polymers on surface, which opens many new opportunities for designing functional materials for bioseparation and biosensing.

Synthesis and characterization of core-shell magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers for selective extraction of allocryptopine from the wastewater of Macleaya cordata (Willd) R. Br

A novel type of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIP) as the solid-phase extraction sorbent was prepared, which can extract effectively the allocryptopine from the waster of Macleaya cordata (Willd) R. Br. In this study, MMIP was synthesized by using Fe₃ O₄ @SiO₂ , 4-vinyl-pyridine, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and allocryptopine, and these ingredients worked as magnetic core, functional monomer, cross-linker, and template, respectively. Concluded by the calculation of Gaussian 09 software, different ratio models of 4-vinyl-pyridine and allocryptopine were simulated, and the optimal ratio was 1:5 and the energy was -2205.34 kJ/mol. Transmission electron microscopy, vibration sample magnetometry, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis were used to determine the morphology and structure of MMIP. Furthermore, the results of adsorption experiments indicated that MMIP had high selectivity, excellent recyclability, and good adsorption performance (9.86 mg/g, 298 K). The adsorption process was consistent with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm (R² > 0.98, 298 K) and pseudo-second-order kinetics model (R² > 0.99, 298 K). After six times adsorption-desorption experiments, the adsorption amount of MMIP only reduced to 8.5%. In the experiments of selective adsorption, MMIP has better adsorption properties for allocryptopine (ALL, C₂₁ H₂₃ NO₅ ) than those having the same functional group. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.4 μg/mL. The relative standard deviation ranged from 0.09% to 0.72%. The recovery of allocryptopine in samples ranged from 93.60% to 106.19%. In addition, the synthesized complex had a certain adsorption effect on allocryptopine separating from the wastewater of Macleaya cordata (Willd) R. Br.

Development of rapid, sensitive and selective fluorimetric method for determination of 1-naphthalene acetic acid in cucumber by using magnetite-molecularly imprinted polymer

In this study, a novel method based on the determination of 1-naphthalene acetic acid with the usage of magnetite-molecularly imprinted polymer prior to fluorimetric detection has been developed. Magnetite-molecularly imprinted polymer has been used for the first time as selective adsorbent for the determination of 1-naphthalene acetic acid. The adsorption capacity of the synthesized polymer was found to be 2.18 ± 0.36 mg g^-1 (n = 3). Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of the method were found to be 0.75 and 2.50 μg L^-1, respectively. Linearity of the calibration graph for the proposed method was observed within the range of 20-700 μg L^-1. The proposed method seems to be rapid where the detection procedure for 1-naphthalene acetic acid can be completed within a total time of 1 h. The same imprinted polymer can be used for the determination of 1-naphthalene acetic acid with quantitative sorption and recovery values repeatedly for at least ten times. The effects of some potential organic interferences were investigated. Proposed method has been successfully applied to determine 1-naphthalene acetic acid in cucumber, where the recoveries of the spiked samples were found to be in the range of 93.7-104.5%. Characterization of the synthesized polymer was also evaluated. By combining the high capacity, cheapness, reusability and selectivity of the magnetic adsorbent with the dynamic calibration range, rapidity, simplicity, and sensitivity of fluorimetry, the proposed method seems to be an ideal method for the determination of trace levels of 1-naphthalene acetic acid.

Dynamic assembly of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles

Manipulation of specific binding and recycling of materials are two important aspects for practical applications of molecularly imprinted polymers. In this work, we developed a new approach to control the dynamic assembly of molecularly imprinted nanoparticles by surface functionalization. Molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles with a well-controlled core-shell structure were synthesized using precipitation polymerization. The specific binding sites were created in the core during the first step imprinting reaction. In the second polymerization step, epoxide groups were introduced into the particle shell to act asan intermediate linker to immobilize phenylboronic acids, as well as to introduce cis-diol structures on surface. The imprinted polymer nanoparticles modified with boronic acid and cis-diol structures maintained high molecular binding specificity, and the nanoparticles could be induced to form dynamic particle aggregation that responded to pH variation and chemical stimuli. The possibility of modulating molecular binding and nanoparticle assembly in a mutually independent fashion can be exploited in a number of applications where repeated use of precious nanoparticles is needed.

Inorganic/polymer hybrid nanoparticles for sensing applications

This paper reviews a wide set of sensing applications based on the special properties associated with inorganic/polymer composite nanoparticles. We first describe optical sensing applications performed with hybrid nanoparticles and hybrid microgels with special emphasis on photoluminescence detection and imaging. Analyte detection with molecularly imprinted polymers and HPLC-based sensing using hybrid nanoparticles as stationary phase is also summarized. The final part is devoted to the study of ultra-sensitive molecule detection by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy using core-shell hybrid materials composed of noble metal nanoparticles and cross-linked polymers.

Preparation of High-Efficiency Cytochrome c-Imprinted Polymer on the Surface of Magnetic Carbon Nanotubes by Epitope Approach via Metal Chelation and Six-Membered Ring

A novel epitope molecularly imprinted polymer on the surface of magnetic carbon nanotubes (MCNTs@EMIP) was successfully fabricated to specifically recognize target protein cytochrome c (Cyt C) with high performance. The peptides sequences corresponding to the surface-exposed C-terminus domains of Cyt C was selected as epitope template molecule, and commercially available zinc acrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) were employed as functional monomer and cross-linker, respectively, to synthesize MIP via free radical polymerization. The epitope was immobilized via metal chelation and six-membered ring formed between the functional monomer and the hydroxyl and amino groups of the epitope. The resulting MCNTs@EMIP exhibited specific recognition ability toward target Cyt C including more satisfactory imprinting factor (about 11.7) than that of other reported imprinting methods. In addition, the MCNTs@EMIP demonstrated a high adsorption amount (about 780.0 mg g(-1)) and excellent selectivity. Besides, the magnetic property of the support material made the processes easy and highly efficient by assistance of an external magnetic field. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis of Cyt C in bovine blood real sample and protein mixture indicated that the specificity was not affected by other competitive proteins, which forcefully stated that the MCNTs@EMIP had potential to be applied in bioseparation area. In brief, this study provided a new protocol to detect target protein in complex sample via epitope imprinting approach and surface imprinting strategy.

Selective targeting of Mycobacterium smegmatis with trehalose-functionalized nanoparticles

Silica and iron oxide nanoparticles with sizes ranging from 6 to 40 nm were functionalized with trehalose. The trehalose-conjugated nanoparticles showed strong interactions with Mycobacterium smegmatis (M. smegmatis) and minimal interactions with macrophage (RAW 264.7) or A549 cells. In addition, trehalose-conjugated silica nanoparticles selectively interacted with M. smegmatis on M. smegmatis-treated A549 cells, demonstrating high potential of trehalose in developing targeted therapy for treating mycobacterial infection.

Molecular imprinting: perspectives and applications

This critical review presents a survey of recent developments in technologies and strategies for the preparation of MIPs, followed by the application of MIPs in sample pretreatment, chromatographic separation and chemical sensing.

Photoconjugation of Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Nanoparticles for Surface-Enhanced Raman Detection of Propranolol

We report a simple and versatile method to covalently immobilize molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) nanoparticles on a Raman active substrate (Klarite) using a disulfide-derivatized perfluorophenylazide (PFPA-disulfide). Gold-coated Klarite was functionalized with PFPA-disulfide via a gold-sulfur bond. Upon light radiation, the available azido groups were converted to highly reactive singlet perfluorophenyl nitrene that undergoes a CH insertion reaction and form covalent bonds with the MIP nanoparticles. The resulting surfaces were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy to study the morphology and template affinity of the surfaces, respectively. The Raman measurements clearly show a dose-responsive signal when propranolol binds to the MIP surface. Because the MIP particles were covalently attached to the Raman active substrate, the sensing surface was stable and could be reused after regeneration in acetic acid solution. The MIP-based Raman sensor was used successfully to detect propranolol in urine samples (7.7 × 10(-4) M). Our results show that the high selectivity of MIPs and the fingerprint Raman identification can be integrated into a compact sensing unit using high-efficiency photoconjugation. Thus, the method proposed is reliable, efficient and fast for fabricating label-free chemical sensors.

Detection of λ-cyhalothrin by a core-shell spherical SiO2-based surface thin fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer film

A fluorescent core-shell molecularly imprinted polymer based on the surface of SiO2 beads was synthesized and its application in the fluorescence detection of ultra-trace λ-cyhalothrin (LC) was investigated. The shell was prepared by copolymerization of acrylamide with allyl fluorescein in the presence of LC to form recognition sites. The experimental results showed that the thin fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer (FMIP) film exhibited better selective recognition ability than fluorescent molecularly non-imprinted polymer (FNIP). A new nonlinear relationship between quenching rate and concentration was found in this work. In addition, the nonlinear relationship allowed a lower concentration range of 0-5.0 nM to be described by the Stern-Volmer equation with a correlation coefficient of 0.9929. The experiment results revealed that the SiO2@FMIP was satisfactory as a recognition element for determination of LC in soda water samples. Therefore this study demonstrated the potential of MIP for the recognition and detection of LC in food.

Selective removal of erythromycin by magnetic imprinted polymers synthesized from chitosan-stabilized Pickering emulsion

Magnetic imprinted polymers (MIPs) were synthesized by Pickering emulsion polymerization and used to adsorb erythromycin (ERY) from aqueous solution. The oil-in-water Pickering emulsion was stabilized by chitosan nanoparticles with hydrophobic Fe3O4 nanoparticles as magnetic carrier. The imprinting system was fabricated by radical polymerization with functional and crosslinked monomer in the oil phase. Batches of static and dynamic adsorption experiments were conducted to analyze the adsorption performance on ERY. Isotherm data of MIPs well fitted the Freundlich model (from 15 °C to 35 °C), which indicated heterogeneous adsorption for ERY. The ERY adsorption capacity of MIPs was about 52.32 μmol/g at 15 °C. The adsorption kinetics was well described by the pseudo-first-order model, which suggested that physical interactions were primarily responsible for ERY adsorption. The Thomas model used in the fixed-bed adsorption design provided a better fit to the experimental data. Meanwhile, ERY exhibited higher affinity during adsorption on the MIPs compared with the adsorption capacity of azithromycin and chloramphenicol. The MIPs also exhibited excellent regeneration capacity with only about 5.04% adsorption efficiency loss in at least three repeated adsorption-desorption cycles.

A "turn-on" fluorescent receptor for detecting tyrosine phosphopeptide using the surface imprinting procedure and the epitope approach

A new strategy for the manufacture of a turn-on fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer (CdTe/SiO2/MIP) receptor for detecting tyrosine phosphopeptide (pTyr peptide) was proposed. The receptor was prepared by the surface imprinting procedure and the epitope approach with silica-capped CdTe quantum dots (QDs) as core substrate and fluorescent signal, phenylphosphonic acid (PPA) as the dummy template, 1-[3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl] urea as the functional monomer, and octyltrimethoxysilane as the cross-linker. The synthetic CdTe/SiO2/MIP was able to selectively capture the template PPA and corresponding target pTyr peptide with fluorescence enhancement via the special interaction between them and the recognition cavities. The receptor exhibited the linear fluorescence enhancement to pTyr peptide in the range of 0.5-35μM, and the detection limit was 0.37μM. The precision for five replicate detections of pTyr peptide at 20μM was 2.60% (relative standard deviation). Combining the fluorescence property of the CdTe QDs with the merits of the surface imprinting technique and the epitope approach, the receptor not only owned high recognition site accessibility and good binding affinities for target pTyr peptide, but also improved the fluorescence selectivity of the CdTe QDs, as well revealed the feasibility of fabrication of a turn-on fluorescence probe using the surface imprinting procedure and the epitope approach.

Particle-assisted semidirect breath figure method: a facile way to endow the honeycomb-structured petri dish with molecular recognition capability

Recently, we have developed a semidirect breath figure (sDBF) method for direct fabrication of large-area and ordered honeycomb structures on commercial polystyrene (PS) Petri dishes without the use of an external polymer solution. In this work, we showed that both the pore size and the pore uniformity of the breath figure patterns were controllable by solvent amount. The cross-sectional image shows that only one layer of pores was formed on the BF figure patterns. By combing the sDBF method and Pickering emulsion and using the modular building blocks, we endowed the honeycomb-structured Petri dish with molecular recognition capability via the decoration of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) nanoparticles into the honeycomb pores. The radioligand binding experiments show that the MIP nanoparticles on the resultant honeycomb structures maintained high molecular binding selectivity. The reusability study indicates that MIP-BF patterns had excellent mechanical stability during the radioligand binding process. We believe that the modular approach demonstrated in this work will open up further opportunities for honeycomb structure-based chemical sensors for drug analysis, substrates for catalysts, and scaffold for cell growth.

Well-defined nanostructured surface-imprinted polymers for highly selective magnetic separation of fluoroquinolones in human urine

The construction of molecularly imprinted polymers on magnetic nanoparticles gives access to smart materials with dual functions of target recognition and magnetic separation. In this study, the superparamagnetic surface-molecularly imprinted nanoparticles were prepared via surface-initiated reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization using ofloxacin (OFX) as template for the separation of fluoroquinolones (FQs). Benefiting from the living/controlled nature of RAFT reaction, distinct core-shell structure was successfully constructed. The highly uniform nanoscale MIP layer was homogeneously grafted on the surface of RAFT agent TTCA modified Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles, which favors the fast mass transfer and rapid binding kinetics. The target binding assays demonstrate the desirable adsorption capacity and imprinting efficiency of Fe3O4@MIP. High selectivity of Fe3O4@MIP toward FQs (ofloxacin, pefloxacin, enrofloxacin, norfloxacin, and gatifloxacin) was exhibited by competitive binding assay. The Fe3O4@MIP nanoparticles were successfully applied for the direct enrichment of five FQs from human urine. The spiked human urine samples were determined and the recoveries ranging from 83.1 to 103.1% were obtained with RSD of 0.8-8.2% (n = 3). This work provides a versatile approach for the fabrication of well-defined MIP on nanomaterials for the analysis of complicated biosystems.

Design, synthesis and biocidal effect of novel amine N-halamine microspheres based on 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidinol as promising antibacterial agents

Novel superior antibiotics, i.e. amine N-halamine nanoparticles were synthesized via the radical copolymerization, and their bactericidal effects were studied.

Novel hybrid structure silica/CdTe/molecularly imprinted polymer: synthesis, specific recognition, and quantitative fluorescence detection of bovine hemoglobin

This work presented a novel strategy for the synthesis of the hybrid structure silica/CdTe/molecularly imprinted polymer (Si-NP/CdTe/MIP) to recognize and detect the template bovine hemoglobin (BHb). First, amino-functionalized silica nanoparticles (Si-NP) and carboxyl-terminated CdTe quantum dots (QDs) were assembled into composite nanoparticles (Si-NP/CdTe) using the EDC (1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride) chemistry. Next, Si-NP/CdTe/MIP was synthesized by anchoring molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) layer on the surface of Si-NP/CdTe through the sol-gel technique and surface imprinting technique. The hybrid structure possessed the selectivity of molecular imprinting technique and the sensitivity of CdTe QDs as well as well-defined morphology. The binding experiment and fluorescence method demonstrated its special recognition performance toward the template BHb. Under the optimized conditions, the fluorescence intensity of the Si-NP/CdTe/MIP decreased linearly with the increase of BHb in the concentration range 0.02-2.1 μM, and the detection limit was 9.4 nM. Moreover, the reusability and reproducibility and the successful applications in practical samples indicated the synthesis of Si-NP/CdTe/MIP provided an alternative solution for special recognition and determination of protein from real samples.