Effect of the host polymer on the nanomechanical and morphological properties of templated polymer films

Abstract

Atomic force microscopy and nanoindentation have been applied to the study of thin molecularly templated polymer films. The template was chosen to be the readily hydrogen-bonded cotinine molecule and three different polymer hosts, ElvamideV R nylon, Nylon-6, and poly(4-vinylphenol) were compared. The host polymer was shown to affect the nature of the template-host interaction resulting in varying surface morphologies and differences in the nanohardness. These observations were shown to reflect differences in the underlying interaction chemistry, specifically, whether or not the polymer may be imprinted in the film production process.

Equilibrium and kinetic isotherms and parameters for molecularly imprinted with sclareol poly(acrylonitrile‐co‐acrylic acid) matrix

“…What defines MIPs is the synthesis step when the template (the target molecule) interacts in solution with one or more functional monomers or (co)polymers by covalent or noncovalent bonds in the preimprinting step, after that these aggregates being "cemented" by polymerization or phase inversion [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. After the imprinting step and structure stabilization, the template is removed from the polymer matrix, thus leaving molecular cavities behind, with specific electronic memory towards the template molecules [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. As applications, MIPs may be used as stationary phase in solid phase extraction, as (bio)sensors, (bio)catalysts, chiral separation materials, drug delivery systems, stimuli responsive materials, and more.…”