Array formatting of the heat-transfer method (HTM) for the detection of small organic molecules by molecularly imprinted polymers.

Gideon Wackers,Bart Van Grinsven,Thijs Vandenryt,Peter Cornelis,Patricia Losada-Pérez,Evelien Kellens,Marloes Peeters,Ward De Ceuninck,Patrick Wagner,Ronald Thoelen

doi:10.3390/s140611016

Abstract

In this work we present the first steps towards a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-based biomimetic sensor array for the detection of small organic molecules via the heat-transfer method (HTM). HTM relies on the change in thermal resistance upon binding of the target molecule to the MIP-type receptor. A flow-through sensor cell was developed, which is segmented into four quadrants with a volume of 2.5 μL each, allowing four measurements to be done simultaneously on a single substrate. Verification measurements were conducted, in which all quadrants received a uniform treatment and all four channels exhibited a similar response. Subsequently, measurements were performed in quadrants, which were functionalized with different MIP particles. Each of these quadrants was exposed to the same buffer solution, spiked with different molecules, according to the MIP under analysis. With the flow cell design we could discriminate between similar small organic molecules and observed no significant cross-selectivity. Therefore, the MIP array sensor platform with HTM as a readout technique, has the potential to become a low-cost analysis tool for bioanalytical applications.

Highlights

For different application areas including separation science and purification [1], environmental testing [2,3], biosensors [4,5], drug delivery and diagnostics [6,7], it is of interest to develop chemical sensors that can be tailored for specific analytes
Relevant aspects regarding the performance of the novel setup have been tested, namely quadrant separation, limit of detection, specificity and cross selectivity
Microscopy analysis demonstrated that the quadrants can be functionalized individually with

Summary

Introduction

For different application areas including separation science and purification [1], environmental testing [2,3], biosensors [4,5], drug delivery and diagnostics [6,7], it is of interest to develop chemical sensors that can be tailored for specific analytes. MIPs are synthetic receptors that are prepared by copolymerizing functional monomers with crosslinker monomers in the presence of a particular template molecule [10]. After removal of this target, cavities are obtained with a high affinity and selectivity for the corresponding template molecule [11]. Imprinting is a versatile and inexpensive method [12] to obtain recognition surfaces with different selectivity patterns. The MIP can be rapidly tailored to a specific analyte by selecting monomers via computational modeling [13]

Methods

Results

Conclusion