Molecularly imprinted polymers-curcuminoids and its application for solid phase extraction

Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) for the selective recognition properties of curcumin (CUR), a cancer chemopreventive agent were obtained by a non-covalent imprinting approach with bisdemetoxycurcumin (BDMC) as the template molecule. The double bond of BDMC has been reduced in order not to be involved in polymerization and make the template molecules easy to be eluted. Several functional monomers have been evaluated to maximize the interactions with the template molecule during polymerization. MIPs prepared by bulk of N-(2-aminoethyl) metacrylamid hydrochlorideas functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinker, 2,2′-azobis (2′4-dimethyl valeronitril) as initiator and acetonitrile as porogen. Non-imprinted polymer (NIP) have been also synthesized for reference purposes. UV-vis spectroscopy has been used to predict the template to functional monomer ratio which indicates the formation of 2:1 complexes between monomer and curcumin and the association constants (K11 = 2529 μM and K12 = 1960.75 μM in acetonitrile). The capacity and imprinting factor have been evaluated as stationary phases in high-pressure liquid chromatography to CUR and BDMC. The binding properties and the homogeneity of the binding sites of the different polymers have been studied by Freundlich isotherm modeling and weight average affinity and number of binding sites. One of the foremost applications of molecular imprinting has been in molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction and it has the ability to separate and preconcentrate between closely related compounds in curcuminoids.