Recognitive biomimetic networks with moiety imprinting for intelligent drug delivery

Molecular imprinting techniques have been developed for the preparation of biomimetic polymer networks that can recognize a general moiety, D-glucose, and the novel evaluation of loading and release of a larger molecule with glucose as an integral part of its structure [i.e., fluorescently tagged glucose (2-(N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)amino)-2-deoxy-glucose) or 2-NBDG]. Poly(acrylamide-co-poly(ethylene glycol)dimethacrylate) networks with varying crosslinking monomer percentages (80, 67, and 30%) and crosslinker lengths (average number of ethylene glycol units of 1, 4, and 14) were prepared and characterized using a novel fluorescent microscopy technique, which allowed for microscale observation of the dynamic binding and release of 2-NBDG within the polymer film. Experimental results indicate that tighter mesh-sized networks had increased affinity and capacity towards the glucose functionalized molecule as well as increased diffusional transport times, indicating the strong potential to load significantly higher amounts of therapeutic within intelligent carriers as well as control and extend the rate of release via macromolecular structure.