Uiformly-Sized, Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Naproxen by Precipitation Polymerization

Uniformly-sized, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for (D)-naproxen have been prepared by a precipitation polymerization method using methacrylic acid (MAA) as a functional monomer and divinylbenzene (DVB) as a cross-linker in acetonitrile or a mixture of toluene and acetonitrile(1:3). The (D)-naproxen-imprinted MAA-co-DVB polymers were monodispersed microspheres with size in the range of 1.5 to 3.6µm. Enantioseparation of naproxen was attained using the (D)-naproxen-imprinted MAA-co-DVB polymer microspheres. When Ethylene glycol dimethacrylate(EGDMA) was used as a cross-linker, the MAA-co -EGDMA polymers were sub-microspheres with the average size of 350nm and showed very low affinity for the template (D)-naproxen . The (D)-naproxen-imprinted MAA-co-DVB polymer microspheres prepared in the mixture of toluene showed the highest molecular recognition ability and with the biggest size of 3.6µm.