Proposal Number: CTS-0303951 Principal Investigator: Peter Kofinas Institution: University of Maryland
The objective of the proposed research is to prepare and test polymer hydrogels that have been molecularly imprinted with recognition properties for different materials. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) will be synthesized and imprinted against specific simple sugar isomers. Methods will be developed for the detection and quantification of each molecular imprint. The MIP's total sugar binding, specificity, and rate of sugar diffusion will be evaluated in aqueous and physiological media. Specific sugar recognition will be optimized through combinatorial synthesis methods. A non-covalent approach to imprinting will be carried out in aqueous solution. Mechanistic studies will attempt to clarify the roles of molecular shape and functionality on selectivity. In terms of the broader impacts, novel MIPs might offer new avenues for biorecognition and isomeric separation techniques. The MIPs developed in this study may be used for bio-separations in conjunction with chromatographic techniques to separate amino acids, sugars, drugs, viruses and other bioactive compounds. In previous work K-12 activities have been developed. An interactive Website for K-12 will be developed in this project.
