Preparation and properties of thermosensitive molecularly imprinted polymer based on konjac glucomannan and its controlled recognition and delivery of 5-fluorouracil

Hemicellulose-Based Sensors: When Sustainability Meets Complexity

Hemicelluloses (HCs) are promising sustainable biopolymers with a great natural abundance, excellent biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Yet, their potential sensing applications remain limited due to intrinsic challenges in their heterogeneous chemical composition, structure, and physicochemical properties. Herein, recent advances in the development of HC-based sensors for different chemical analytes and physical stimuli using different transduction mechanisms are reviewed and discussed. HCs can be utilized as carbonaceous precursors, reducing, capping, and stabilizing agents, binders, and active components for sensing applications. In addition, different strategies to develop and improve the sensing capacity of HC-based sensors are also highlighted.

Advances in the construction and application of konjac glucomannan-based delivery systems

Konjac glucomannan (KGM) has been widely used to deliver bioactive components due to its naturalness, non-toxicity, excellent biodegradability, biocompatibility, and other characteristics. This review presents an overview of konjac glucomannan as a matrix, and the types of konjac glucomannan-based delivery systems (such as hydrogels, food packaging films, microencapsulation, emulsions, nanomicelles) and their construction methods are introduced in detail. Furthermore, taking polyphenol compounds, probiotics, flavor substances, fatty acids, and other components as representatives, the applied research progress of konjac glucomannan-based delivery systems in food are summarized. Finally, the prospects for research directions in konjac glucomannan-based delivery systems are examined, thereby providing a theoretical basis for expanding the application of konjac glucomannan in other industries, such as food and medicine.

Molecularly Imprinted Carriers for Diagnostics and Therapy-A Critical Appraisal

Simultaneous diagnostics and targeted therapy provide a theranostic approach, an instrument of personalized medicine-one of the most-promising trends in current medicine. Except for the appropriate drug used during the treatment, a strong focus is put on the development of effective drug carriers. Among the various materials applied in the production of drug carriers, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are one of the candidates with great potential for use in theranostics. MIP properties such as chemical and thermal stability, together with capability to integrate with other materials are important in the case of diagnostics and therapy. Moreover, the MIP specificity, which is important for targeted drug delivery and bioimaging of particular cells, is a result of the preparation process, conducted in the presence of the template molecule, which often is the same as the target compound. This review focused on the application of MIPs in theranostics. As a an introduction, the current trends in theranostics are described prior to the characterization of the concept of molecular imprinting technology. Next, a detailed discussion of the construction strategies of MIPs for diagnostics and therapy according to targeting and theranostic approaches is provided. Finally, frontiers and future prospects are presented, stating the direction for further development of this class of materials.

A boronate-affinity magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer for luteolin recognition

In this study, 3-carboxyphenylboronic acid (CP)-functionalized amino-modified Fe₃O₄ (Fe₃O₄@NH₂-CP, FNC) magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (FNC@MIPs) were synthesized and applied for the quick identification and selective separation of luteolin (LTL). The structure and morphology were characterized in detail by Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and vibrating specimen magnetometry (VSM) methods. The FNC@MIPs had a homogeneous shape, excellent magnetic characteristics, quick binding kinetics, a high adsorption capacity, acceptable selectivity, and stable reusability. The solid-phase extraction parameters and preparation conditions were both optimized. Under optimized conditions, the maximal adsorption capacity was 14.26 mg g^-1 and the imprinting factor was 3.62. Furthermore, the experimental kinetics data were best fitted with the pseudo-first-order model (R² = 0.9877), and the Langmuir model could describe the adsorption process (R² = 0.9979), suggesting a monolayer covering. The practical application of the sorbent for LTL detection in Lonicera japonica Thunb samples showed recoveries in the range of 84.5-108.7%. Therefore, the strategy offers a fresh avenue for the extraction and purification of LTL.

Molecularly Imprinted Polymers as State-of-the-Art Drug Carriers in Hydrogel Transdermal Drug Delivery Applications

Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) are polymeric networks capable of recognizing determined analytes. Among other methods, non-covalent imprinting has become the most popular synthesis strategy for Molecular Imprinting Technology (MIT). While MIPs are widely used in various scientific fields, one of their most challenging applications lies within pharmaceutical chemistry, namely in therapeutics or various medical therapies. Many studies focus on using hydrogel MIPs in transdermal drug delivery, as the most valuable feature of hydrogels in their application in drug delivery systems that allow controlled diffusion and amplification of the microscopic events. Hydrogels have many advantages over other imprinting materials, such as milder synthesis conditions at lower temperatures or the increase in the availability of biological templates like DNA, protein, and nucleic acid. Moreover, one of the most desirable controlled drug delivery applications is the development of stimuli-responsive hydrogels that can modulate the release in response to changes in pH, temperature, ionic strength, or others. The most important feature of these systems is that they can be designed to operate within a particular human body area due to the possibility of adapting to well-known environmental conditions. Therefore, molecularly imprinted hydrogels play an important role in the development of modern drug delivery systems.