Molecularly imprinted copolymer membranes functionalized by phase inversion imprinting for uracil recognition and permselective binding

Uracil (URA) was selected as a template for preparing molecularly imprinted membranes of poly(acrylonitrile-co-methylacrylic acid) [P(AN-co-MAA)] using the phase inversion technique. This study used Fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR) and 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic studies to characterize the polymer-template interaction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) for morphology of the URA imprinted membrane. Resultant membranes had typical ultratiltration structure with porous morphology and showed a permeation flux of (3.5 x 10(-5) m(3)/m(2) s) for 32 muM URA aqueous solution. Permselective binding to the target molecule was observed in permeation experiments with 7.9 mumol/g binding capacity of URA. Binding selectivity was discussed for URA and its analogs, dimethyluracil (DMURA) and caffeine (CAF), with 0.6 and 0.8 mumol/g binding capacity, respectively. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.