Lock and key templation of molecularly imprinted polymer for small molecule recognition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024044905-A1
Application number	US-202217880398-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 3, 2022
Priority date	Aug 3, 2022
Publication date	Feb 8, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A composition of matter has a molecularly imprinted polymer having templated pores, and a reactive material occupying a portion of each pore, the reactive material selected to react when an analyte material for which the cavities are templated enters the cavities. A method of synthesizing a molecularly imprinted polymer includes arranging monomers around a template molecule having a reactive component and an analyte component, polymerizing the monomers, removing the template molecule, and reintroducing the reactive component of the template molecule. A method of detecting an analyte includes exposing a molecularly imprinted polymer to a fluid, the polymer having templated pores containing a detector material that is reactive to an analyte.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A composition of matter, comprising:
a molecularly imprinted polymer having templated pores; and a reactive material occupying a portion of each pore, the reactive material selected to react when an analyte material for which the cavities are templated enters the cavities.

2 . The composition of matter as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the reactive material has a characteristic that changes in a detectable manner in response to the analyte.

3 . The composition of matter as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the templated pores are configured to bind to at least one of the reactive material and the analyte material through one of either steric or electronic effects.

4 . The composition of matter as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the reactive material includes functional groups reactive to the analyte.

5 . The composition of matter as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the reactive material is a detector material.

6 . The composition of matter as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the detector material is 1,2-napthoquinone-4-sulfonate (NQS), and the analyte is one of the group consisting of: methamphetamine, 3,4-Methylenedioxyl-methamphetamine (MDMA), 4-methylenedioxyl-N-ethylampthetamine (MDEA) ephedrine, and pseudoephedrine.

7 . The composition of matter as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the detector material comprises Fast blue B dye and the analyte comprises tetrahydrocannabinol.

8 . The composition of matter as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the reactive material has a response that is at least one of colorimetric, fluorescent, optical transmission change, or a spectroscopic detectable change.

9 . The composition of matter as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the analyte is a small molecule.

10 . A method of synthesizing a molecularly imprinted polymer, comprising:
arranging monomers around a template molecule having a reactive component and an analyte component; polymerizing the monomers; removing the template molecule; and reintroducing the reactive component of the template molecule.

11 . The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein arranging the monomers around a template molecule comprises arranging monomers with one of reversible covalent or reversible non-covalent interactions.

12 . The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein polymerizing the monomers further comprises adding at least one of other monomers and cross-linkers prior to polymerizing the monomers.

13 . The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein polymerizing the monomers comprises one of radical polymerization, condensation polymerization, and ring opening polymerization.

14 . The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein removing the template molecule comprises at least one of washing and extraction.

15 . The method as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising washing the polymer after reintroducing the reactive component to remove any excess of the component.

16 . The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein template molecule has the first component as 1,2-napthoquinone-4-sulfonate (NQS), and a second component as one of the group consisting of: methamphetamine, 3,4-Methylenedioxyl-methamphetamine (MDMA), 4-methylenedioxyl-N-ethylampthetamine (MDEA) ephedrine, and pseudoephedrine.

17 . The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the template molecule has the first component as Fast blue B dye and a second component as tetrahydrocannabinol.

18 . A method of detecting an analyte comprising exposing a molecularly imprinted polymer to a fluid, the polymer having templated pores containing a detector material that is reactive to an analyte.

19 . The method as claimed in claim 18 , further comprising separating the analyte from the fluid using the molecularly imprinted polymer as a membrane.

20 . The method as claimed in claim 18 , further comprising recognizing the detector material reacting to the analyte by one of a colorimetric, fluorescent, optical transmission, or spectroscopic change.

Assignees

• Palo Alto Res Ct Inc

Inventors

• Xia Kelly
• Meckler Stephen Matthew
• Iftime Gabriel
• Chintapalli Mahati
• Unidad Jerome

Classifications

• G01N33/58 Primary

  involving labelled substances (G01N33/53 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01N33/94

  involving narcotics {or drugs or pharmaceuticals, neurotransmitters or associated receptors} · CPC title

• C08F220/06

  Acrylic acid; Methacrylic acid; Metal salts or ammonium salts thereof · CPC title

• G01N21/6428

  Measuring fluorescence of fluorescent products of reactions or of fluorochrome labelled reactive substances, e.g. measuring quenching effects, using measuring "optrodes" (in vivo A61B5/00; immunoassay G01N33/53) · CPC title

• G01N2600/00

  Assays involving molecular imprinted polymers/polymers created around a molecular template · CPC title