Uniform-sized molecularly imprinted polymer for (S)-naproxen selectively modified with hydrophilic external layer

A uniform-sized molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for (S)-naproxen selectively modified with hydrophilic external layer has been prepared. First, the molecularly imprinted polymer for (S)-naproxen was prepared using 4-vinylpyridine and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as a functional monomer and cross-linker, respectively, by a multi-step swelling and thermal polymerization method. Next, a 1:1 mixture of glycerol monomethacrylate (GMMA) and glycerol dimethacrylate (GDMA) was used for hydrophilic surface modification, and it was added directly to the molecularly imprinted polymer for (S)-naproxen 4 h after the start of molecular imprinting. The retention factors of all solutes tested were decreased with the surface modified molecularly imprinted polymer, compared with the unmodified molecularly imprinted polymer. However, chiral recognition of racemic naproxen was attained with the surface modified molecularly imprinted polymer as well as the unmodified molecularly imprinted polymer. Further, bovine serum albumin was completely recovered from the surface modified molecularly imprinted polymer. These results revealed that the chiral recognition sites of (S)-naproxen remained unchanged with hydrophilic surface modification, and that the molecularly imprinted polymer for (S)-naproxen was selectively modified with hydrophilic external layer. Preliminary results reveal that the surface modified molecularly imprinted polymer could be applicable to direct serum injection assays of (S)-naproxen.