The feasibility of preparing cholesterol-imprinted polymers by aqueous susp
ension polymerization was investigated by the preparation of ethyleneglycol
dimethacrylate and divinylbenzene-based beads imprinted using cholesteryl(
4-vinyl)-phenyl carbonate as the template. A low volatility porogen to repl
ace a 4:1 hexane/ toluene mixture was selected on the basis of solubility p
arameters and consisted of dioctyl phthalate/n-decane 77:23 v/v. Beads were
prepared using a range of porogen contents with the best results obtained
at 5.5-6.5 mL /5 g of monomer. Uptake of cholesterol by suspension polymers
was broadly similar to that of the corresponding "bulk" polymers, but suff
ered from higher nonspecific binding. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.