Synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers for specific recognition of ellagic acid

Abstract

Molecular imprinting technique is based on the fact that functional monomers are formed a complex around the template molecule by covalent or non-covalent interactions, and then these interactions are made stable by using cross-linker. By the removal of the template molecule after the synthesis, the template molecule-specific complementary binding sites are formed in the polymeric network. The ellagic acid molecule, which is found in the pomegranate fruit, is known to have anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, anti-cancer and antimicrobial properties. In this study, it is aimed to synthesize ellagic acid imprinted polymer (MIP) for isolation of ellagic acid from pomegranate fruit. 4-vinylpyridine was used as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinker, and Tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED)/Potassium persulfate (KPS) system as initiator. Molecularly imprinted polymers were synthesized by thermal polymerization. The characterization of the synthesized polymers was done by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The ellagic acid recognition properties of MIP and nonimprinted polymers (NIPs) were tested, dissociation constants were calculated as 7.0 mu M for MIP and 9.5 mu M with lower affinity for NIP. In the light of the findings, it was concluded that MIP can recognize ellagic acid better than NIP.