Thermal preparation of lysozyme-imprinted microspheres by using ionic liquid as a stabilizer

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Developing selective materials for protein separation is crucial in biotechnology.
• Traditional methods for creating imprinted polymers often struggle with protein denaturation at high temperatures.
• Ionic liquids offer potential as stabilizers in biomacromolecule processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the use of biocompatible ionic liquids (ILs) as thermal stabilizers for lysozyme-imprinted microspheres.
• To optimize the preparation conditions for molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) using ILs.
• To evaluate the recognition ability and separation efficiency of the IL-stabilized MIPs.

Main Methods:

• Utilized ionic liquid (IL) as a thermal stabilizer during the thermal preparation of lysozyme-imprinted microspheres.
• Systematically analyzed preparation conditions: IL content, polymerization temperature, functional monomers, and crosslinkers.
• Employed circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and activity assays to assess protein structure retention and binding.

Main Results:

• IL-stabilized imprinted microspheres demonstrated significant recognition ability towards the template protein.
• Optimal conditions included hydroxyethyl acrylate (functional monomer), ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (crosslinker), 5% IL, and 75°C.
• Achieved high separation factor (4.30) and selectivity factor (2.21) for lysozyme.
• IL-stabilized MIPs showed superior performance compared to those prepared without IL.

Conclusions:

• Ionic liquids effectively stabilize protein structure during high-temperature imprinting processes.
• This IL-assisted approach provides an effective strategy for accurate imprinting and separation of template proteins.
• The method offers a promising avenue for advancing macromolecule imprinting technologies.