A molecular modeling approach was used to elucidate template-monomer interaction and the effect of solvent on the recognition of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). Ciprofloxacin (CIP) was taken as the template molecule. The methacrylic acid (MAA), 4-vinyl pyridine (4-Vpy), acrylamide (AAM), and 2-(trifluoromethyl) acrylic acid (TFMAA) were taken as the functional monomers, respectively. Density functional theory (DFT) at the LC-WPBE/6-31g(d,p) level has been adopted to investigate the geometry optimization. The NBO charge and the binding energies of CIP with the monomers were carried out. The molecular imprinting mechanism of CIP and the monomers as well as the influence of solvent was also discussed. Results indicate that CIP and the monomers are matchable in steric structure and chemical groups lead to ordered compounds. The interaction between CIP and TFMAA is the strongest, and when the ratio of CIP-TFMAA is 1:6, the polymer has the lowest energy in toluene. The computational approach has been applied to provide details of interactions between CIP and the monomers. This research will hopefully shed light on the future study of CIP-MIPs.
As a widely used herbicide, the threat of atrazine to both environment and health of people has become the focus. Therefore, the research and analysis of atrazine are getting more important. In this work, the MIT was used to detect atrazine theoretically. Atrazine was taken as a template molecule. MAA, MMA and TFMAA were taken as the functional monomers, respectively. The geometry optimization, the nature of hydrogen bonds, the NBO charge, and the binding energies of the imprinted molecule with the functional monomers were investigated at the B3LYP/6-31g(d,p) level. Results indicated that atrazine had the strongest interaction with TFMAA. When the ratio of atrazine and TFMAA was 1:6, the amount of H-bond formed from atrazine and TFMAA was the largest. Moreover, TFMAA owned the largest binding energy with atrazine while MMA owned the smallest. The study is helpful to interpret experiment phenomena of molecular imprinting and select better functional monomers.
Recently, the investigation of novel molecularly imprinted polymers(MIPs) has attracted a lot of interest and becomes a fascinating field. The phenobarbital(PHN) was taken as an imprinted molecule and the 2-vinyl-4,6-diamino-1,3,5-triazine(VDAT) was considered as a functional monomer in this study. The geometry optimization, natural bond orbital(NBO) charge, and molecular electrostatic potential(MEP) of PHN and VDAT were studied at the M062 X level belonging to one of the hybrid density functional theories. Furthermore, we discussed the bonding conditions of PHN molecular imprinted polymers(PHN-MIPs) via the hydrogen bond length and atoms in molecules(AIM) theory. The rebinding property of PHN-MIPs was also researched. The results of MEP and NBO charge analysis were coincident. The stability property was excellent when the ratio of PHN and VDAT was 1:4. Except the classic hydrogen bonds, non-classical hydrogen bonds also existed in the imprinted polymers. By simulating the rebinding energies between the pentobarbital(PNT), barbital(BAR), and PHN-MIPs after the elution of PHN, the rebinding property of PHN-MIPs to PHN was excellent when PNT and BAR existed all at once. This research can provide theoretical reference for the synthesis and characterization of novel PHN-MIPs.
