A glimpse into the unknown
Philip Davies and colleagues from the University of Cardiff, Wales and other collaborators from the UK have used X-ray absorption spectroscopy to directly probe the active site within molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs).
MIPs are used in applications that require antibody-type recognition, particularly for an engineerable synthetic material. Despite initial promise, commercialisation of MIP technology is hampered due to the resulting materials possessing unpredictable affinities, selectivities and capacities. So for MIP technology to progress, a better understanding of the factors that affect imprinting performance needs to be determined. However, this is difficult to achieve due to the amorphous nature of the polymers, making it almost impossible to analyse them by most structural tools.
Davies has now shown that extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) can be used to explore the active imprinting site within specifically designed MIPs. This breakthrough will help understand the inner workings of molecular imprinting.
Original publication: Christopher J. Allender, Chem. Commun., 2009.
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