Studies on the Process of Formation, Nature and Stability of Binding Sites in Molecularly Imprinted Polymers

AbstractIn Molecular Imprinting the nature of the templated binding sites and the mechanism of their formation are still poorly understood. For this reason our groups are carrying out fundamental studies concerning known imprinting protocols, with the primary aim of shedding light on the role of the template in the different steps of the polymerisation, from the formation of primary chains to the build-up of the porous structure. In this paper we report our initial results concerning copolymers of methacrylic acid (MAA) and ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) and their formation in presence or absence of the templates 9-ethyladenine, ametryn or terbutylazine. Monitoring the monomer disappe…