Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2011, 12, 1735-1743; doi:10.3390/ijms12031735 OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Molecular Sciences ISSN 1422-0067 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms Article Synthesis of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Amino Acid Derivates by Using Different Functional Monomers Sonia Scorrano *, Lucia Mergola, Roberta Del Sole and Giuseppe Vasapollo * Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Innovazione, Università del Salento, via per Arnesano Km 1, 73100 Lecce, Italy; E-Mails:
[email protected] (L.M);
[email protected] (R.D.S.) * Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mails:
[email protected] (S.S.);
[email protected] (G.V.); Tel.: +39-0832-297265; Fax: +39-0832-297268. Received: 14 January 2011; in revised form: 1 February 2011 / Accepted: 1 March 2011 / Published: 7 March 2011 Abstract: Fmoc-3-nitrotyrosine (Fmoc-3-NT) molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were synthesized to understand the influence of several functional monomers on the efficiency of the molecular imprinting process. Acidic, neutral and basic functional monomers, such as acrylic acid (AA), methacrylic acid (MAA), methacrylamide (MAM), 2-vinylpyridine (2-VP), 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP), have been used to synthesize five different polymers. In this study, the MIPs were tested in batch experiments by UV-visible spectroscopy in order to evaluate their binding properties. The MIP prepared with 2-VP exhibited the highest binding affinity for Fmoc-3NT, for which Scatchard analysis the highest association constant (2.49 × 104 M−1) was obtained. Furthermore, titration experiments of Fmoc-3NT into acetonitrile solutions of 2-VP revealed a stronger bond to the template, such that a total interaction is observed.