The ability of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) to selectively recognize (bind) target molecules, e.g., proteins, makes them analogous to receptors of biological origin. Compared to antibodies used for protein assays, MIPs can offer some advantages like the lower production cost and the better chemical and physical stability. The downside of protein imprinting is the large size of the proteins that prevent them to reach the active binding sites inside the polymer matrix. For this reason the usual bulk polymerization cannot be used. Instead we have used a novel nano-moulding approach.
In this method a sacrificial membrane with the template adsorbed on the surface of the micron sized through pores of the membrane is placed over a gold electrode and then conducting polymer rods of poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT) were grown electrochemically into the pores. After the membrane dissolution and the template removal, MIP rods localized on the electrode are formed with a high concentration of active binding sites on their surface.
To increase the application range of these conducting polymers, we incorporate nanosized magnetic particles inside the rods, to obtain magnetic nanorods. With this approach the nanorods are removed from the electrode surface and they can be used directly in solution, where they may be simply collected by a magnet. These particles can be used as matrices for immunomagnetic separation and purification of biological targets as well as in magnetic ELISA assays.

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