Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) gravimetric sensing of theophylline via molecularly imprinted microporous polypyrrole copolymers

In this paper, we developed a novel molecularly imprinted conducting polymer (MICP) system consisting of porous poly(pyrrole-co-pyrrole-3-carboxylic acid) copolymer matrices for the recognition of theophylline (THEO), a drug molecule. Various porous MICP (p-MICP) films were made using colloidal lithography and examined via gravimetric technique [e.g. gold quartz crystal microbalances (QCMs)]. They showed faster sensing response than a planar MICP film due to the increased THEO binding sites obtained from porous structures. Thus, this lithographical approach to MICP sensors can enable the rebind of a specific template to be increased to achieve improved sensor capacity. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.