Synthesis of Monodispersed Submillimeter-Sized Molecularly Imprinted Particles Selective for Human Serum Albumin Using Inverse Suspension Polymerization in Water-in-Oil Emulsion Prepared Using Microfluidics

Abstract

We synthesized monodispersed submillimeter-sized (100 μm-1 mm) microgels by inverse suspension polymerization of water-soluble monomer species with a photoinitiator in water-in-oil (W/O) droplets formed by the microchannel. After fundamental investigations of the selection of suitable surfactants, surfactant concentration, and flow rate, we successfully prepared monodispersed submillimeter-sized W/O droplets. Because radical polymerization based on thermal initiation was not appropriated based on colloidal stability, we selected photoinitiation, which resulted in the successful synthesis of monodispersed submillimeter-sized microgels with sufficient colloidal stability. The microgel size was controlled by the flow rate of the oil phase, which maintained the monodispersity. In addition, the submillimeter-sized microgels exhibit high affinity and selective binding toward HSA utilizing molecular imprinting. We believe the monodispersed submillimeter-sized molecularly imprinted microgels can be used as affinity column packing materials without any biomolecules, such as antibodies, for sample pretreatment to remove unwanted proteins without a pump system.

On-Flow Synthesis of Co-Polymerizable Oligo-Microspheres and Application in ssDNA Amplification

“…Such structure can be used a new high-throughput platform for diagnostics, drug screening, encapsulation of bioelements such as DNA, enzyme, and cells including bacteria, and biosensor elements [ 9 , 10 ]. Currently, applications of microfluidic device involve the manipulation of water-in-oil microspheres to provide lower cost alternative experimental format [ 11 , 12 ].…”

Molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensing interface based on in-situ-polymerization of amino-functionalized ionic liquid for specific recognition of bovine serum albumin

“…The peak current variation of HSA was only slightly smaller than that of BSA, indicating that the imprinted sensor possesses low specificity towards HSA. In the previous reports (Hua et al, 2008;Inoue et al, 2013;Li et al, 2015;Takimoto et al, 2015), it was also found that the imprinted polymers show certain cross-reactivity towards HSA (or BSA). HSA is homologous to BSA (Hirayama et al, 1990), and the amino acid sequence homology may be the reasons that significantly influence the rebinding specificity of the imprinted sensor (Inoue et al, 2013).…”

Review on the Stability Mechanism and Application of Water‐in‐Oil Emulsions Encapsulating Various Additives

“…The surface wettability is an important factor determining the emulsion types (Steegmans, Schroën, & Boom, 2009). To prepare W/O emulsions, several methods including cross-flowing rupture in a T-or Y-junction microchannel, geometry-controlled flow device and shearing-flow breakup have been used (Cristini, Guido, Alfani, Bławzdziewicz, & Loewenberg, 2003;Takimoto, Takano, Kitayama, & Takeuchi, 2015;Tan, Fisher, Lee, Cristini, & Lee, 2004;Xu et al, 2006). However, so far, these emulsification systems have only investigated in a lab scale.…”