Abstract:
Separation techniques based on molecular recognition have received much attention in
chemistry and biology due to their high selectivity for target molecules. In this area,
molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have experienced considerable growth in recent
years, particularly when they are prepared as thin films
Ultrathin films of molecularly imprinted polymer were prepared by photoiniferter on
PVC beads for the selective uptake of lysozyme, taken as a model protein. Acrylamide was
selected as the functional monomer and N,N-methylenebisacrylamide as the crosslinking
agent. The copolymerization process was confined to the surface of the PVC beads grafted
with diethyldithiocarbamate iniferter initiator in the presence of lysozyme. After extraction of
lysozyme from the shell of the PVC-MIP beads, the latter were then used as artificial
receptors for the rebinding of lysozyme. The sequential steps of the modification of PVC
beads were monitored by XPS, infrared and Raman spectroscopies.
The imprinting step was found to be essential as the PVC-MIP beads could recognize
lysozyme but not the nonimprinted beads (PVC-NIP). The binding properties of PVC-MIP
beads were determined using UV spectroscopy from adsorption isotherms of lysozyme,
cytochrome, and myoglobin. The imprinted beads were found to be highly selective toward
lysozyme over the competitive proteins. This work shows the interest of photoiniferter as an
efficient mean for the design ofmolecularly imprinted polymer beads for rapid, selective
removal of proteins.
