Molecular imprinting of hydrogels : improved drug delivery vehicles

The present study aimed to characterize and evaluate the ability of two molecularly imprinted hydrogel polymers to uptake drug template molecules from solution. A copolymer of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and N, N-Dimethyl acrylamide (DMAA), and a homopolymer of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) were synthesized. Both polymer types were either molecularly imprinted (MIP) with a drug template molecule (propranolol, naproxen or timolol) or prepared without a template (non-imprinted polymer, NIP). The polymers were characterized by water content, FTIR, DSC, XRD, and SEM. With the exception of the SEM data, no differences between MIPs and NIPs were noted. Polymers were used in template re-uptake studies and their isotherms fit to Langmuir and Freundlich models. Based on the results. we conclude that the MMA-DMAA ProMIP was most successful at rebinding propranolol compared to the corresponding NIP. By changing the composition of the polymer backbone the drug uptake ability of the polymer changes drastically.