Imprinting large molecular weight compounds in polymer composites
AssigneeLynntech, Inc.
InventorsWaheguru Pal Singh, Anthony Giletto, David Gaskin, James Fyffe
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Abstract
A method for molecular imprinting polymers with large biomolecules. The imprinted polymer composite is made by the interfacial polymerization of a monomer in the presence of the print molecule and host polymer. Since polymerization occurs at the interface between an organic solvent and an aqueous solution, the print molecule can be disposed in the phase that allows the print molecule to remain in its native configuration. The choice of the host polymer and the monomer to be polymerized can be varied to enhance the specificity of the composite toward the biomolecule that is selected to be imprinted.
Claims97
A method of preparing a molecularly imprinted polymer, the method comprising:
- (a) dissolving a print molecule and a monomer in a first phase and dissolving a host polymer in a second phase, wherein the first and second phases are different phases and selected from an aqueous phase and an organic phase;
- (b) preparing an emulsion of the aqueous phase and the organic phase;
- (c) polymerizing the monomer to form a polymer composite with the host polymer along an interface between the first and second phases;
- (d) separating the polymer composite from the emulsion;
- and removing the print molecule from the composite.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.