An NIR-light-responsive surface molecularly imprinted polymer for photoregulated drug release in aqueous solution through porcine tissue

The application of photoresponsive surface molecularly imprinted polymers based on azobenzene is limited by the UV light source required and their poor water solubility. Reducing the phototoxicity and solvent toxicity of the polymers therefore presents a challenge. In this work, an NIR-light-responsive surface molecularly imprinted polymer was fabricated by atom transfer radical polymerization using up-conversion nanoparticles as the core, a hydrophilic green-light-responsive azobenzene derivative as the functional monomer, and a drug as the template. The up-conversion nanoparticles core emitted green fluorescence in the range of 520–550 nm upon NIR irradiation (980 nm, 5 W cm−2), which was absorbed by the azobenzene containing molecularly imprinted polymers layer on the up-conversion nanoparticles surface. This caused the azobenzene chromophores to undergo trans→cis isomerization in phosphate buffered solution (pH = 7.4), thus resulting in NIR-light-induced drug release. The up-conversion fluorescence spectra were used to study the interaction mechanism between the azobenzene monomer and NIR light. Compared with structural analogues of the template (antifebrin and phenacetin), the NIR-light-responsive surface molecularly imprinted polymer showed excellent specificity of recognition for the template drug (paracetamol). The maximum adsorption capacity of the NIR-light-responsive surface molecularly imprinted polymer for loading of paracetamol was 16.80 μmol g−1. The NIR-light-responsive surface molecularly imprinted polymer was applied for NIR-light-induced paracetamol release in phosphate buffered solution (pH = 7.4) through porcine tissue. This work demonstrates the potential of drug delivery systems based on molecularly imprinted polymers for application in deep tissue delivery.