Preparation of molecularly imprinted microspheres by precipitation polymerization

Abstract

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) gained an expansively growing interest in the past few decades. After an initial, explorative period of preparing MIPs exclusively with bulk polymerization, new polymer synthesis routes have been adapted to overcome the drawbacks of the traditional method. Among these the most appealing is precipitation polymerization that results in nano- and microspheres with narrow size distribution and makes the production of MIPs more straightforward. Here, we describe a precipitation polymerization protocol for a common small molecule template, propranolol that is carried out in the conventional way, in dilute monomer solution. Moreover, a modified precipitation polymerization protocol from concentrated monomer solution is presented for a diclofenac imprinted polymer which makes the synthesis even more versatile and circumvents the disadvantages of the dilute solution conditions.