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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
A resin, imprinted with 3-hydroxybenzoic acid (3HBA), was synthesized from acrylamide (AA, the functional monomer) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA, the crosslinking agent). Batch analyses showed that the imprinted polymer has a special affinity for the meta-substituted 3HBA, but not for its para-substituted isomer (4HBA) nor for benzoic acid (BA). These results are consistent with the principle that an imprinted resin's ability to recognize is dependent on the target's size, shape, and functionality. Another resin, prepared from AA and EGDMA but in the absence of a template, had similar affinities for 3HBA, 4HBA, and BA; and thus it could not differentiate among the three. The results can be interpreted with a simple two-binding-site model with one site special for 3HBA and the other being more general with similar affinities for 3HBA, 4HBA and BA. The binding of 3HBA to the imprinted resin is characterized by an association constant and the density of each kind of site using a two-site Scatchard equation. The binding sites common to both the imprinted resin and the non-imprinted reference resin were found to have greater affinity but are less numerous than the sites unique to the imprinted resin.