Progress of stimuli-responsive molecular imprinted materials for capture/release of proteins

Abstract

To date, molecular imprinting (MIP) materials towards proteins have been utilized in a wide range of applications encompassing the fields of samples purification, proteomics, life science, biosensor, pharmaceutical research and drug delivery. Although tremendous progress has been made in MIP technique field, the large size of macromolecules would lead to low transmission and diffusion efficiency during MIP processes, and further cause difficult in adsorption and desorption of target proteins. Therefore, great challenges still remain to be addressed, especially in the design of unique and advanced MIP materials towards macromolecules. More recently, stimuli-responsive MIP materials have attracted considerable interest because they can respond to external stimuli while modulating their affinities for the target proteins and endowing switchable capacities of the binding/releasing processes. In this review, an overview of different stimuli-responsive MIP materials towards proteins developed from 1998 to now, especially the synthetic methods, monomer species, intelligent modulating principle and application has been provided. Moreover, the future of intelligent stimuli-responsive MIP materials for target proteins is expounded. In the first section, the classical MIP fabrication process and mechanism of MIP materials have been described: template incubating with the function monomers, polymerization and template removing. Then the fundamental properties of classical MIP materials including high selectivity, stability and excellent reusability without loss of activity have been discussed. However, the MIP materials are mainly utilized as adsorbents for extraction of the small molecules. When it comes to template with large molecules, such as proteins, the MIP materials suffered from the lower diffusion efficiency and needed harsh elution conditions. Therefore, to approach challenges, new materials-the stimuli-responsive MIP materials should be explored. In the second section, several methods for synthesis of stimuli-responsive MIP materials have been introduced in detail, including bulk polymerization, emulsion polymerization, precipitation polymerization, suspension polymerization and surface imprinting method. Moreover, the advantages and shortcomings of each method and its application have been summarized. Combination of MIP materials with stimuli-responsive properties has attracted significant research interest. In the third section, a general summary of stimuli-responsive MIP technology has been made, including the design of thermo/pH sensitive MIP materials and its application in proteins analysis. Finally, this review performs prospect for the future development of stimuli-responsive MIP technology including the limitation in theoretical study, synthesis method and commercial products. The stimuli-responsive MIP materials have displayed great potential anyhow in several applications including drug delivery and environmental protection owing to their versatility properties.