Thermo-sensitive surface molecularly imprinted magnetic microspheres based on bio-macromolecules and their specific recognition of bovine serum albumin

Bovine serum albumin imprinted magnetic microspheres, with functional monomers of modified chitosan, N-isopropylacrylamide and sulfobetaine methacrylate, were successfully prepared and characterized in detail. Computational analyses showed that during the preparation process, modified chitosan can effortlessly form multiple non-covalent bonds with protein molecules. Temperature-sensitive N-isopropylacrylamide improves the elution efficiency by abating the mass transfer resistance. Meanwhile, the zwitterionic sulfobetaine methacrylate strongly interacts with H₂O molecules, remarkably reducing the non-specific adsorption. The specific bovine serum albumin adsorption performances of the prepared imprinted material were then determined. The adsorption amount reached 86.87 mg/g and the imprinting factor was 6.49. These excellent specific adsorption properties are attributed to the synergetic effects of the different monomers. The fabricated imprinted material not only exhibits great prospects as a biosensor or separation material for protein molecules, but also provides a collaborative strategy for preparing multi-functional imprinted materials.