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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Engineering Molecular Recognition with Bio-mimetic Polymers on Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes
Published on: January 10, 2017
Engineering molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for the selective extraction and quantification of the novel
J W Lowdon1, S M O Alkirkit, R E Mewis
1Manchester Metropolitan University, Faculty of Science and Engineering, School of Science and the Environment, Division of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Chester Street, Manchester M1 5GD, UK. o.sutcliffe@mmu.ac.uk m.peeters@mmu.ac.uk.
Abstract:
In this communication, we present the first developed Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) for the specific detection of a New Psychoactive Substance (NPS); namely, methoxphenidine (MXP) and its regioisomers. Selectivity of the MIP towards MXP is studied by analysing mixtures and an acquired street sample with High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled to UV detection. The study demonstrates that the engineered polymers selectively extract MXP from heterogeneous samples, which makes for a very powerful diagnostic tool that can detect traces of MXP in complicated NPS samples.
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