This NSF award by the Chemical and Biological Separations program supports work by Professor Ken D. Shimizu at the University of South Carolina at Columbia to develop polymers with recognition properties for use in chromatography and sensing applications. The molecular imprinting approach will be utilized to quickly and efficiently prepare polymers with desired affinities and selectivities. However, the imprinting process is also a low fidelity process that generates binding sites with a wide range of structures, affinities, and selectivities. This binding site heterogeneity has hindered the wider adoption of molecularly imprinted materials. Three new molecular imprinting strategies have been developed to specifically address the problem of binding site heterogeneity in imprinted polymers. These are: 1) development of multifunctional monomers, 2) site-specific post-modification strategies, and 3) template activated monomers. An advantage of these new strategies is that they can be used in tandem to optimize and tailor the binding properties of the polymers for specific applications. To demonstrate the utility of these new methods, imprinted polymers will be developed for use in an enantiomeric excess (ee) assay and for use as a chiral separation support in a HPLC column.
The broader impacts of the proposed research will be development of methods to rapidly and inexpensively prepare polymers with tailored recognition properties. The improved binding properties of the imprinted materials will be widely applicable in analytical and biotechnical applications. These include catalysis, sensing, solid-phase extraction, drug delivery, and chromatography. The students working on this project will receive a highly multidisciplinary education, preparing them for research careers in polymer, pharmaceutical, and analytical chemistries. The award will also assist in supporting two outreach activities. The first is an outreach program for K-12 schools. The students are give chemical demonstrations in the areas schools with a focus on schools with a predominantly minority population. The second educational program is the development of a hands-on laboratory experience for high school students. The program brings high school classes to the University of South Carolina for a day. A molecular imprinted polymer laboratory has been designed, which exposes the students to cutting edge research. Additional interactive activities and tours are incorporated to introduce them to the scientific research environment.
