Polymeric nanoparticles for selective protein recognition by using thiol-ene miniemulsion photopolymerization

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Biomaterials Science

Background:

• Molecularly imprinted nanoparticles (MIP-NPs) offer high specificity for target analyte recognition.
• Developing selective nanomaterials for protein detection is crucial in diagnostics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate MIP-NPs with high affinity and selectivity for myoglobin.
• To utilize thiol-ene photopolymerization in miniemulsion for nanoparticle synthesis.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of allyl N,N-diallyl phenylalaninate as a functional monomer.
• Copolymerization via miniemulsion polymerization to create non-imprinted (NIP-NPs) and imprinted (MIP-NPs).
• Characterization using FTIR, 1H-NMR, and morphological analysis; evaluated binding affinity using ELISA.

Main Results:

• Successfully synthesized functional monomer and produced NIP-NPs (74 nm) and MIP-NPs (141 nm) with narrow size distribution.
• MIP-NPs exhibited significantly higher affinity and rebinding capability for myoglobin compared to NIP-NPs.
• ELISA confirmed specific interaction of MIP-NPs with myoglobin, showing minimal cross-reactivity with BSA.

Conclusions:

• Thiol-ene photopolymerization in miniemulsion is an effective method for creating myoglobin-selective MIP-NPs.
• The synthesized MIP-NPs demonstrate excellent selectivity and potential for myoglobin detection applications.