Polymer cookery: Influence of polymerization time and different initiation conditions on performance of molecularly imprinted polymers

A set of polymers was imprinted with (-)-ephedrine using thermal and UV initiation. The performance of the synthesized materials was studied by HPLC. It was shown that the polymer morphology and enantioselective properties are dependent on the polymerization conditions and time of the reaction. The binding mechanism of synthesized polymers was studied using Van't Hoff analysis. The results of testing strongly indicate that the polymer receptor structure is shaped during the initial phase of polymer gelation. The present study shows the importance of controlling experimental conditions in the MIP synthesis and highlights potential problems expected during scaling up of MIP production.