Star shaped molecularly imprinted polymer

We designed a star polymer whose core is imprinted by template. We also designed a novel liquid membrane process using the star shaped molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as a carrier. In this work, the star shaped MIP of L-phenylalanine (PA) was synthesized using living radical polymerization. The ability of the polymer as a carrier was estimated by observing transport of the template through experimental method of bulk liquid membrane. Living radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) was allowed to occur for obtaining arm polymer. The star shaped MIP (StarMIP) was synthesized through photo-copolymerization of acrylamide, N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide, and methacrylic acid with PA as a template by the living polyMMA as a initiator. The prepared polymer is referred to as StarMIP. The transport ability for PA of StarMIP was estimated by bulk liquid membrane. The PA concentration in the receiving phase increased in the experiment with the StarMIP during 120 h operation of the liquid membrane experiment. This extreme slow transportability may be suitable for gradual drug releaser rather than practical liquid membrane process.