Gyorgy Szekely
The University of Manchester, UK
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Chem Eng Process Technol
Molecular imprinting is a technique to design robust molecular recognition materials able to mimic natural recognition entities, such as antibodies and biological receptors. A target compound is present during the polymerization process acting as a molecular template. Building blocks featuring complementary functional groups to the template allow self-assembly of the host-guest system through either secondary or covalent interactions. The functional groups are held in position by the result of high degree cross-linking polymerisation. Subsequent removal of the template by solvent extraction or chemical cleavage leaves binding sites that are complementary to the template in terms of size, shape and arrangement of functional groups. Imprinted materials can be fabricated in both resin and membrane formats and used for various applications requiring molecular level separations. The keynote address will cover molecular imprinted materials from fabrication to process applications. Examples from downstream processing of active pharmaceutical ingredients, catalysis, chiral separations and wastewater treatment will be given. Imprinted materials offer unique separations including three-way fractionation of solutes in organic media. Nevertheless, most real-world applications are limited to analytical chemistry, and large scale industrial applications are yet to be broken through. The drawbacks and future of imprinting technology from a chemical engineer�s perspective will be presented.
