A MESOPOROUS MOLECULARLY IMPRINTED INVERSE OPAL SENSOR WITH HIGH SELECTIVITY FOR FLUOROQUINOLONES.

In this study, the selective dual template (CIPNOR) molecularly imprinted polymers (DT-MIPs) based on MCM-41 (MCM-41-DT-MIPs) for the selective determination of the Fluoroquinolones (FQs) were developed. The polymers were synthesized by photochemical reaction with the MAA as functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as cross-linker. The surface morphologies, specific surface area, molecular adsorption capacity and recognitive ability of the imprinted and non-imprinted polymers were examined. Molecular adsorption capacity result shows that the MCM-41-DT-MIPs result in a higher adsorption capacity than the DT-MIPs due to its mesoporous structure. Inverse opal films of MCM-41-DT-MIPs (MIOM) were elaborated by combining the Langmuir-Blodgett technique and the photonic crystal template method. The inverse opal films consists of a highly ordered and interconnected macroporous array with a thin wall, where nanocavities complementary to analytes in shape and binding sites are distributed. The response of MIOM to FQs stimulants in aqueous solution is detected through a readable Bragg diffraction red-shift, which is due to the lattice change of inverse opal films structures responding to their rebinding to the target FQs molecules. The MCM-41-DT-MIPs inverse opal sensor exhibited high sensitivity and specificity for sensing of FQs in aqueous media and could be a promising way to current methods of online monitoring of FQs levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]