Application of the Freundlich adsorption isotherm in the characterization of molecularly imprinted polymers

The binding isotherm for a polymer molecularly imprinted with ethyl adenine -9-acetate was observed to obey the common Freundlich isotherm. To test the generality of the Freundlich isotherm with respect to molecularly imprinte d polymers (MIPs), a survey of systems from the literature was conducted, r evealing that the Freundlich isotherm gives a good mathematical approximati on of the binding characteristics for non-covalently imprinted polymers. Th e utility of the Freundlich isotherm in the calculation of binding paramete rs, as well as its limitations and implication of an exponential distributi on of binding sites in imprinted polymers have been discussed. (C) 2001 Els evier Science B.V. All rights reserved.