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Fourty years of molecular imprinting in synthetic polymers: origin, features and perspectives

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Abstract

Molecularly imprinted synthetic polymers were discovered 40 years back. They are prepared in the presence of interacting monomers around a molecule that acts as a template. Following polymerization of the monomers together with a large amount of a crosslinker and after removal of the template, an imprint is obtained whose shape and arrangement of functional groups are complementary to the structure of the template (often an analyte). Usually, selective binding of the analyte is observed. These highly cross-linked polymers are also well suitable to engineer enzyme-like activity and specificity. The first part of this review is a personal retrospective description of the first steps into this field. The second part describes recent efforts to develop enzyme models, e.g. for carboxypeptidase A, through the concept of transition state stabilization. It is shown that the introduction of special catalytic moieties such as metal ions leads to a defined orientation of groups inside the active site and, with this, to highly active catalysts. Their activity, efficiency, and proficiency clearly surpass those of other imprinted catalysts and even those of the corresponding catalytic antibodies. A further improvement was accomplished by placing the enzyme-analogue active site inside soluble nanoparticles. A special concept, referred to as “post dilution polymerization method” results in soluble, highly cross-linked, single molecule nanoparticles of controlled molecular weight (~ 39 kDa) having one catalytically active site per particle on average.

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Acknowledgment

This research was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the D.F.G. Graduierten Kolleg “Molecular physiology: Substance and energy transformation”. A considerable number of coworkers have achieved these results. Their names are found in the references. In the recent research results especially Dr. R. Schönfeld and Dr. B.-O. Chong participated in their PhD theses. A long and fruitful cooperation with Prof. J. Liu (Jilin, China) is thankfully acknowledged. Dr. U. Kolb (Mainz, Germany) with electron microscopy and Prof. N. Graham (Strathclyde, Great Britain) with a cooperation in the preparation of nanoparticles had a strong part in the success.

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  1. Institute of Organic Chemistry and Macromolecular Chemistry, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitätsstraße 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Günter Wulff

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Wulff, G. Fourty years of molecular imprinting in synthetic polymers: origin, features and perspectives. Microchim Acta 180, 1359–1370 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-013-0992-9

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