Optimization of the process parameters of synthesis of vinblastine imprinted polymer

Abstract

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are tailor-made polymers with high selectivity for the template molecule. This selectivity arises from the synthetic procedure followed to prepare the MIP. In this work, the influence of process parameters on the preparation of vinblastine (VLB) imprinted polymers was presented. In the procedure of polymerization, VLB (0.1 mmol) was used as the template molecule and a commonly used initiator, azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN), was employed to initiate the reaction at 60 °C. The influence of the following parameters was investigated: the moles of functional monomer (MAA, 0.3–1.0 mmol), the moles of cross-linker (EDMA, 1.5–5.0 mmol) and the porogenic solvent (toluene or acetonitrile). A mathematical method of uniform design was applied to optimize these selected parameters in order to increase the selectivity of MIP for template molecule. The experimental data were analyzed to obtain the regression model and the optimal conditions were achieved by optimization with uniform design software. The MIP was synthesized under the optimal conditions that 1.0 mmol of MAA and 5.0 mmol of EDMA copolymerized in toluene in the presence of 0.1 mmol of VLB. After removal of the template molecule, the obtained MIP was then employed as the sorbents of solid-phase extraction (SPE) to separate VLB from Catharanthus roseus extract. The results showed that the polymer exhibited high affinity to the template molecule and could separate and enrich VLB from C. roseus extract effectively. The recovery of VLB on the optimal MIP was 89.00%, which agreed closely with the predicted recovery. Therefore it is possible to further improve the nature of the polymer by optimizing the polymerization parameters with the method of uniform design.