Fabrication and evaluation of artemisinin-imprinted composite membranes by developing a surface functional monomer-directing prepolymerization system

A novel ratiometric electrochemical sensor for the selective detection of citrinin based on molecularly imprinted poly(thionine) on ionic liquid decorated boron and nitrogen co-doped hierarchical porous carbon

Citrinin can cause serious human diseases, thus its detection in foods is necessary. Herein, a molecularly imprinted polymer-based ratiometric electrochemical sensor (MIP-RECS) was presented for citrinin detection. The sensor was fabricated by electropolymerization, using thionine as monomer and citrinin as template. The ionic liquid decorated boron and nitrogen co-doped hierarchical porous carbon (BN-HPC) as supporter, provided large surface for anchoring thionine and citrinin. Poly(thionine) not only acted as MIP, but also acted as reference probe. When [Fe(CN)₆] ^3-/4- was adopted as indicating probe, the resulting sensor demonstrated a wide linear detection range (i.e. 1 × 10^-3-10 ng mL^-1) and a low detection limit (i.e. 1 × 10^-4 ng mL^-1).The sensor was applied to the detection of spiked citrinin in real samples, and satisfactory recovery (i.e. 97% - 110%) was obtained. Hence, it was promising for citrinin detection.

Multipathway Antibacterial Mechanism of a Nanoparticle-Supported Artemisinin Promoted by Nitrogen Plasma Treatment

Artemisinin has excellent antimalarial, antiparasitic, and antibacterial activities; however, the poor water solubility of artemisinin crystal limits their application in antibiosis. Herein, artemisinin crystal was first composited with silica nanoparticles (SNPs) to form an artemisinin@silica nanoparticle (A@SNP). After treating with nitrogen plasma, the aqueous solubility of plasma-treated A@SNP (A@SNP-p) approaches 42.26%, which is possibly attributed to the exposure of hydrophilic groups such as -OH groups on the SNPs during the plasma process. Compared with the pristine A@SNP, the antibacterial activity of A@SNP-p against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains is further enhanced, and its bactericidal rate against both strains exceeded 6 log CFU/mL (>99.9999%), which is contributed by the increased water solubility of the A@SNP-p. A possible multipathway antibacterial mechanism of A@SNP was proposed and preliminarily proved by the changes of intracellular materials of bacteria and the inhibition of bacterial metabolism processes, including the HMP pathway in Gram-negative strain and EMP pathway in Gram-positive strain, after treating with A@SNP-p. These findings from the present work will provide a new view for fabricating artemisinin-based materials as antibiotics.

Integrating ionic liquids with molecular imprinting technology for biorecognition and biosensing: A review

As promising alternatives to natural receptors, artificial molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have received great attention in biotechnology. Nevertheless, some bottlenecks limit their further development, including low adsorption capacity, poor recognition efficiency, slow response, and insipid aqueous compatibility. Ionic liquids (ILs) show the features of tailored structures and properties, high conductivity, good solubility, and excellent stability. Because of these advantages, they have found intensive use in MIPs by remedying the latter's shortcomings. In this review, we summarize the integration of ILs and MIPs for biorecognition and biosensing. The versatile roles of ILs in improving the performance of MIPs are firstly summarized, including serving as solvents, porogens, functional monomers, organic surface modifiers, dummy templates, and cross-linkers. Then, specific applications of IL-based MIPs in peptide recognition, protein sensing, and food safety analysis are discussed. Finally, future trends and challenges for the design and development of IL-based MIPs and their applications in the biorecognition and biosensing are proposed.

Amido surface-functionalized magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers for the efficient extraction of Sibiskoside from Sibiraea angustata

A general method for efficient and selective extraction of a target compound from complex natural products remains elusive, despite decades of research. By introducing a functional amido group on the surface of dispersity-enhanced magnetic nanoparticles, a nanoparticle receptor to selectively recognize Sibiskoside (a monoterpene) from the aerial portion of Sibiraea angustata by hydrogen bond interaction was synthesized. The superparamagnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles were successively modified with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), amino and amido functional groups, and 4-vinylbenzoic acid (VBZA) was used as the functional monomer. A thin layer of poly (VBZA) imprinted with Sibiskoside was immobilized on the surface of magnetic carriers. Attributing to the amido group introduced into the magnetic particles, the template could attract and bind to the surface and promote the formation of a hydrogen bond system between the carrier, template molecules and functional monomer. High-density molecular recognition sites grew on the surface of magnetic substrate. The adsorption reached equilibrium at approximately 150 min, while fast adsorption occurred during the first 60 min. The maximum adsorption capacity has been found to be 13.75 mg g^-1 according to calculation with the Langmuir isotherm. The selectivity coefficients of Molecular imprinting polypers (MIPs) for Sibiskoside with respect to Andrographolide, Loganin, Gastrodin, geraniol-1-O-[α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-1-β-d-glucopyranoside] (GRG), Sibiscolacton and Sibiraic acid were 2.26, 1.43, 1.701.56, 1.05, 0.73 and, respectively. The results indicated that the MIPs possessed good specific adsorption capacity and selectivity toward Sibiskoside and had the potential to be a candidate for the separation and purification of monoterpenes from Sibiraea angustata, which is of great significance to obesity management.

Molecularly imprinted nanocomposite membranes based on GO/PVDF blended membranes with an organic–inorganic structure for selective separation of norfloxacin

A novel high-efficiency molecularly imprinted nanocomposite membrane was designed for selective adsorption and separation of norfloxacin.

Molecularly Imprinted Membranes: Past, Present, and Future

More than 80 years ago, artificial materials with molecular recognition sites emerged. The application of molecular imprinting to membrane separation has been studied since 1962. Especially after 1990, such research has been intensively conducted by membranologists and molecular imprinters to understand the advantages of each technique with the aim of constructing an ideal membrane, which is still an active area of research. The present review aims to be a substantial, comprehensive, authoritative, critical, and general-interest review, placed at the cross section of two broad, interconnected, practical, and extremely dynamic fields, namely, the fields of membrane separation and molecularly imprinted polymers. This review describes the recent discoveries that appeared after repeated and fertile collisions between these two fields in the past three years, to which are added the worthy acknowledgments of pioneering discoveries and a look into the future of molecularly imprinted membranes. The review begins with a general introduction in membrane separation, followed by a short theoretical section regarding the basic principles of mass transport through a membrane. Following these general aspects on membrane separation, two principles of obtaining polymeric materials with molecular recognition properties are reviewed, namely, molecular imprinting and alternative molecular imprinting, followed the methods of obtaining and practical applications for the particular case of molecularly imprinted membranes. The review continues with insights into molecularly imprinted nanofiber membranes as a promising, highly optimized type of membrane that could provide a relatively high throughput without a simultaneous unwanted reduction in permselectivity. Finally, potential applications of molecularly imprinted membranes in a variety of fields are highlighted, and a look into the future of membrane separations is offered.

Bio-inspired adhesion: fabrication and evaluation of molecularly imprinted nanocomposite membranes by developing a “bio-glue” imprinted methodology

A novel “bio-glue” inspired m-cresol-imprinted nanocomposite membrane was first prepared.

Synthesis and characterization of surface ion-imprinted polymer based on SiO2-coated graphene oxide for selective adsorption of uranium(vi)

A novel surface ion-imprinted polymer based on graphene oxide was synthesized for the selective adsorption of U(vi).