Different kinds of molecularly imprinted particles were synthesized and compared, aiming at the development
of materials combining high molecular recognition capabilities and facile use as column packing
materials for chromatographic aqueous applications. Solution, inverse-suspension and precipitation
polymerization were considered and two different model molecules (5-fluorouracil and caffeine) were
used to highlight the effect of the interaction between the template molecule and the functional monomer
on imprinting efficiency. Particles synthesized through the proposed inverse-suspension process exhibit
facile use for packing columns, allow the stable running of chromatographic systems and present a high
performance in drug uptake and release in aqueous media. Frontal analysis measurements highlight these
key features of the synthesized particles. Drug sorption capabilities of 0.890 mol/g and 5.774 mol/g
were measured for 5-fluorouracil and caffeine, respectively, using frontal analysis with eluents containing
the target molecules at concentration 0.1 mM. Due to the lower amount of solvent required than with
precipitation polymerization, the developed inverse-suspension process presents high synthesis yields,
which can be exploited for the large-scale manufacture and commercialization of molecularly imprinted
materials. The combined features of the particles makes possible their direct use in bioseparations or in
the development of assays and pharmacokinetic studies concerning the presence of drugs in biological
fluids.
The authors thank FCT and FEDER under Programme COM-PETE (Project PEst-C/EQB/LA0020/2013), QREN, ON2 and FEDER(Project NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000050) and QREN, ON2 andFEDER (Project NORTE-07-0124-FEDER – 0000014 – Polymer Reac-tion Engineering). This research was also financed by FCT and FEDERthrough COMPETE 2020 (Project UID/EQU/50020/2013 - POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006984).
