Phthalocyanine-based molecularly imprinted polymers as nucleoside receptors

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for tri-O-acetyladenosine (TOAA), PPM(TOAA), was prepared by the combined use of methacrylic acid (MAA) and Zn(II)tetra(4'-methacryloxyphenoxy) phthalocyanine as functional monomers. This MIP exhibited a higher binding ability for TOAA compared to the MIP prepared using only MAA, PM(TOAA), in batch rebinding tests. Scatchard analysis gave a higher association constant of PPM(TOAA) for TOAA (2.96x104 M-1) than that of PM(TOAA) (1.48x104 M-1). The MIP prepared using only the zinc-phthalocyanine, PP(TOAA), did not show any binding capacity for TOAA. This means that the phthalocyanine in the MIP contributes to higher affinities, although it barely interacts with TOAA. Since selectivity for this kind of MIPs is more important than binding affinity, the binding of TOAA and a structurally related compound, tri-O-acetyluridine (TOAU), on the polymers was investigated. Both PPM(TOAA) and PM(TOAA) exhibited binding affinities for TOAA while they did not show any binding capacity for TOAU.