Imprinting Using Smart Polymers

Smart Materials: Towards On-Site Detection of Biomacromolecules using Hydrogel-based Molecularly Imprinted Polymers

Synthetic strategies for the generation of molecularly imprinted organic polymers.

Molecular imprinting is a method of inducing molecular recognition properties in synthetic polymers in response to the presence of a template species during formation of the three-dimensional structure of the polymer. The molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) prepared in this way have been termed "plastic antibodies" and combine the robustness of the polymer scaffold with binding properties mor...

Quantification and confocal imaging of protein specific molecularly imprinted polymers.

We have employed FITC--albumin as the protein template molecule in an aqueous phase molecular imprinted polymer (HydroMIP) strategy. For the first time, the use of a fluorescently labeled template is reported, with subsequent characterization of the smart material to show that the HydroMIP possesses a significant molecular memory in comparison to that of the nonimprinted control polymer (HydroN...

Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications: Cellulose, Chitosan, and Protein/Peptide Derivatives

Hydrogels based on polysaccharide and protein natural polymers are of great interest in biomedical applications and more specifically for tissue regeneration and drug delivery. Cellulose, chitosan (a chitin derivative), and collagen are probably the most important components since they are the most abundant natural polymers on earth (cellulose and chitin) and in the human body (collagen). Pepti...

Smart Polymeric Gels: Redefining the Limits of Biomedical Devices.

This review describes recent progresses in the development and applications of smart polymeric gels, especially in the context of biomedical devices. The review has been organized into three separate sections: defining the basis of smart properties in polymeric gels; describing representative stimuli to which these gels respond; and illustrating a sample application area, namely, microfluidics....