Molecularly imprinted microspheres as antibody binding mimics

Molecular imprinting is an emerging technique for preparing artificial anti bodies that have potential applications in affinity-based separations, biom imetic sensors and assays. The conventional imprinting methods either deliv er a monolith that is mechanically ground to irregular particles - a time-c onsuming process with low yield, or involves complicated polymerization pro cess by which spherical beads may be obtained, but with frequently compromi sed binding specificity. We have recently developed a novel molecular impri nting method that can deliver microspheres bearing imprinted binding sites, quickly, cleanly and in good yield. Imprinted uniform microspheres are syn thesized by precipitation polymerization of a dilute solution of functional monomer and crosslinker in the presence of a print molecule. The method is generally applicable to a large variety of target molecules. For the first time, an enzyme probe is successfully used in a competitive herbicide assa y using molecularly imprinted microspheres as the affinity adsorbents. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.