Hybrid hydrogel microspheres loading single-hole hollow imprinted particles for fast and selective uptake of 2'-deoxyadenosine

Hydrogel microspheres encapsulating molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are promising hybrid sorbents, due to several advantages of high selectivity, fast mass transfer efficiency, and simple collection. Thus, Janus single hole hollow nanoparticles (J-HNPs) with the size of 550 +/- 70 nm were firstly designed by anisotropic emulsion template, and then MIPs were grafted onto their inner surface through electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization (ARGET ATRP). Then as-prepared J-HNPs-MIPs were loaded into hydrogel microspheres via polymerizable water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion droplets combining gelatin methacryloyl (GMA) as monomers, and then obtained J-HNPs-MIPs@Gel with the mean diameter of 2.0 mu m was applied for effective and selective separation of 2'-deoxyadenosine (dA). Fast adsorption equilibrium of J-HNPs-MIPs@Gel for dA can be achieved within 40 min, thanks to the hydrogel matrix and single-hole hollow structure for enhancing diffusion. The maximum multi-layer adsorption capacity calculated according to the Freundlich model was 10.31 mu mol g(-1) at 298 K. The specific memory to the size, shape and functional groups of dA endowed excellent recognition ability, and 88% of the initial capacity after four consecutive adsorption-desorption cycles was maintained. In addition, J-HNPs-MIPs@Gel was expected to show great potential for the selective enrichment and analysis of target dA molecule in complex biological samples.

Automated summary

In this study, Janus single hole hollow nanoparticles (J-HNPs) encapsulating molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were successfully designed and applied for the effective and selective separation of 2'-deoxyadenosine (dA) in complex biological samples. The hybrid sorbent showed fast adsorption equilibrium for dA within 40 minutes and maintained 88% of the initial capacity after four consecutive adsorption-desorption cycles, demonstrating excellent recognition ability.