The synthesis, characterization and molecular recognition properties of imprinted microgels

Molecular imprinting, an established technique for the synthesis of insolub le crosslinked polymers with specific cavities for selective molecular reco gnition and catalysis, has been applied to highly crosslinked polymer nanop articles (microgels) able to build stable solutions in appropriate solvents . Imprinted microgels with a nominal crosslinking degree above 50 wt.-% cou ld be prepared by solution polymerization in high dilution. They were chara cterized by GPC, viscometry and membrane osmometry, and were found to be hi ghly crosslinked macromolecules with a molecular weight comparable to the o ne of proteins. Molecular recognition experiments clearly pointed out the p resence of functionalized cavities within the microgels that were able to r ecognize and to selectively bind sugar molecules. The experiment can be car ried out in homogeneous solution, after which the microgels are convenientl y separated by ultracentrifugation. Although the obtained selectivities are still low compared to the results achieved with insoluble crosslinked poly mers, the success of this approach represents an important step towards the development of what might be properly described as "artificial enzymes".