Smart molecularly imprinted hydrogels for protein recognition
The direct application of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for the selective recognition and isolation of proteins has some limitations. As we described in a recent post , the tridimensional structure of the protein can be modified during the MIP synthesis due to the solvents or the monomers employed. On the other hand, the huge molecular size of biomolecules restricts their diffusion through the polymeric network making difficult their extraction and/or final elution. Smart hydrogels can substitute conventional polymeric materials in molecularly imprinting due to their peculiar characteristics. A smart hydrogel is a porous polymeric network that may respond to external stimulus (mainly pH, ionic strength or temperature) with a change in its structure or dimension. This change can be used to control the uptake and release of the templates with a negligible effect on the polymeric network which memorizes the imprinting state. This polymeric network is synthesized using thre...