title: Covalent immobilization of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles using an epoxy silane.
abstract: Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) can be used as antibody mimics to develop robust chemical sensors. One challenging problem in using MIPs for sensor development is the lack of reliable conjugation chemistry that allows MIPs to be fixed on transducer surface. In this work, we study the use of epoxy silane to immobilize MIP nanoparticles on model transducer surfaces without impairing the function of the immobilized nanoparticles. The MIP nanoparticles with a core-shell structure have selective molecular binding sites in the core and multiple amino groups in the shell. The model transducer surface is functionalized with a self-assembled monolayer of epoxy silane, which reacts with the core-shell MIP particles to enable straightforward immobilization. The whole process is characterized by studying the treated surfaces after each preparation step using atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, contact angle measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The microscopy results show that the MIP particles are immobilized uniformly on surface. The photoelectron spectroscopy results further confirm the action of each functionalization step. The molecular selectivity of the MIP-functionalized surface is verified by radioligand binding analysis. The particle immobilization approach described here has a general applicability for constructing selective chemical sensors in different formats.
authors.affiliation: Division of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Department of Physics, Lund University, Box 118, 22100 Lund, Sweden; Division of Pure & Applied Biochemistry, Lund University, Box 124, 22100 Lund, Sweden; ENI AB, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Tripta
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamra
authors.affiliation: Division of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Department of Physics, Lund University, Box 118, 22100 Lund, Sweden; Division of Pure & Applied Biochemistry, Lund University, Box 124, 22100 Lund, Sweden; ENI AB, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Shilpi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chaudhary
authors.affiliation: Division of Pure & Applied Biochemistry, Lund University, Box 124, 22100 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Changgang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Division of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Department of Physics, Lund University, Box 118, 22100 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Niclas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.affiliation: ENI AB, Malmö, Sweden; Division of Solid State Physics, Department of Physics, Lund University, Box 118, 22100 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Montelius
authors.affiliation: Division of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Department of Physics, Lund University, Box 118, 22100 Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: joachim.schnadt@sljus.lu.se.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schnadt
authors.affiliation: Division of Pure & Applied Biochemistry, Lund University, Box 124, 22100 Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: lei.ye@tbiokem.lth.se.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ye
mesh_terms: D004852:Epoxy Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D054802:Molecular Imprinting; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D056951:Photoelectron Spectroscopy; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011433:Propranolol / Q000737:chemistry; D012821:Silanes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004852:Epoxy Compounds; D011108:Polymers; D012821:Silanes; D011433:Propranolol
keywords: Epoxy silane; Molecular recognition; Molecularly imprinted polymers; Propranolol; Self-assembled monolayer; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy