OBJECTIVETo investigate the influence of molecular imprinting phenomena of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) on basic theories of TCMs according to current situations of molecular imprinting technology and experimental studies.

METHODFundamental principles of molecular imprinting theory were followed to analyze the material basis for TCM molecules to generate the imprinting phenomena, in order to find other material basis with more direct efficacy in line with the requirements of basic theories and modernization of TCMs.

RESULTCompared with single-component structures, TCMs and their compound components could create super-molecular compounds through complexation, composition, chelation, inclusion, neutralization, self-assembly and chemical reaction. The material basis of TCMs was super-molecular compounds including single ingredients, and there was an inter-molecule imprinting phenomenon. Therefore, special attention should be paid to inter-super-molecule imprinting actions in studies on TCM property, quality control, processing, drug preparation and pharmacology. The compatibility of TCM compounds could significantly change the action.

CONCLUSIONThe material basis of TCMs is super-molecular compounds based on single molecular groups. Super-molecules and molecular groups act rules, which is another difference between TCM compounds and single molecular drugs.

Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Molecular Imprinting

Molecular imprinting technology is widely used in the separation and analysis of compounds such as flavonoids, alkaloids and polyphenols, due to its high selectivity and specific recognition and so on. However, no much of attention has been paid to the terpenoids. This paper is aimed to not only review the effects of common synthetic elements such as functional monomers, cross-linking agents and porogens on the polymer properties, but also highlight the application of terpene molecular imprinting in solid phase extraction, sensor, membrane separation and chromatographic separation by means of statistical analysis of literature. Furthermore, the shortcomings and improvement directions are discussed.We believed that this paper could provide references for better applications of molecular imprinting techniques to the analysis of terpenoid compounds.
Chromatography ; Molecular Imprinting ; Polymers ; chemistry ; Solid Phase Extraction ; Terpenes ; chemistry

The dummy template molecularly imprinted polymers not only has such characteristics of normal imprinted polymers as rapid identification, easy preparation, stable structure and multiple reuse, but also can imprint the compounds in natural products that are not suitable as direct template. Therefore, it has drawn more and more attention in the field of the study of natural products. This paper summarizes the methods for the selection of dummy template molecules by investigating the relevant literatures in the past ten years, analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of dummy template molecules in the practical application, and based on the types of natural products active ingredients, this paper is the first to review of the latest progress in extraction and separation of dummy template molecularly imprinted polymers. We believed that this paper could provide references for better applications of the dummy template molecularly imprinted polymers to extract and separate natural products.
Biological Products/chemistry* ; Chemical Fractionation ; Molecular Imprinting ; Polymers

Molecular imprinting technique (MIT) involves the synthesis of polymer in the presence of a template to produce complementary binding sites in terms of its size, shape and functional group orientation. Such kind of polymer possesses specific recognition ability towards its template molecule. Despite the rapid development of MIT over the years, the majority of the template molecules that have been studied are small molecules, while molecular imprinting of proteins remains a significant yet challenging task due to their large size, structural flexibility and complex conformation. This review, we summarized the research findings over the past years, and discussed the nano-reinforcing materials used to prepare molecular imprinting of proteins and the perspective of these nano-reinforcing materials.
Binding Sites ; Molecular Conformation ; Molecular Imprinting ; Nanostructures ; chemistry ; Polymers ; chemistry ; Proteins ; chemistry

An apigenin molecularly imprinted polymer was prepared by bulk polymerization using apigenin as template, acrylamide (AA) as a functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as a crosslinking agent, acetonitrile and N, N-dimethylformamide as porogenic solvents, and 2, 2'-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator. The interaction between template and functional monomer was proved by ultraviolet visible (UV) spectrophotometry and based on the results, appropriate reaction solvent was selected and the synthesizing process was estimated. The molecularly imprinted polymer structure was analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectrophotometry. The molecularly imprinted polymer was investigated in equilibrium binding experiment to evaluate its adsorption property, the results showed that the adsorption of apigenin on molecularly imprinted polymer is higher than that on blank polymer in the studied concentration range (0.1-2.5 mmol x L(-1)). Scatchard analysis showed that two classes of binding sites existed in the apigenin imprinted polymers, with their KD and Qmax estimated to be 2.52 x 10(-4), 0.54 x 10(-3) mmol x L(-1) and 2.65, 18.89 micromol x g(-1), respectively. Molecularly imprinted polymer showed higher affinity than blank polymer.
Apigenin ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Molecular Imprinting ; Molecular Structure ; Polymers ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Spectrophotometry, Infrared ; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet

The combination of nanotechnology and molecular imprinting technique, including their application research in biomedical domain, provides a new solution to the problem of the substitutes for antibodies, enzymes, and other native biological structures as well as cell bracket materials. Nanocavity biomaterials with recognition specificity imprinted by using proteins as templates have numerous applications in biotechnology, medicine and so on. This review presents the aspects of molecular imprinting nanostructure involved in the biomacromolecules imprinting, and it explores the precent developments and achievements of nanomaterials for molecular imprinting technology.
Macromolecular Substances ; chemistry ; Molecular Imprinting ; trends ; Nanostructures ; Nanotechnology ; trends ; Proteins ; chemistry

Molecular imprinting technique (MIT) involves the synthesis of polymer in the presence of a template to produce complementary binding sites in terms of its size, shape, and functional group orientation. Such kind of polymer possesses specific recognition ability towards its template molecule. Despite the rapid development of MIT over the years, the majority of the template molecules that have been studied are small molecules, while molecular imprinting of proteins remains a significant yet challenging task due to their large size, structural flexibility and complex conformation. In this review, we summarize the research findings over the past five years, and discuss the characteristics of the technique, the most recent progress and the perspective in the field of molecular imprinting of proteins.
Epitopes ; chemistry ; Molecular Imprinting ; methods ; trends ; Nanoparticles ; chemistry ; Polymers ; chemistry ; Proteins ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo investigate the optimal condition for complete removal of the template molecules from vinblastine (VLB)-imprinted polymer.

METHODThe prepared polymers were packed into the cartridges of solid-phase extraction column and washed by methanol-glacial acetic acid mixture with different proportions. The contents and recoveries of VLB in the effluents were determined.

RESULTSPolymer extraction with methanol-glacial acetic acid (9:1, V/V) resulted in VLB recovery of 91.73%, but template bleeding was observed because of incomplete VLB removal. Using methanol-glacial acetic acid (6:4, V/V) as the extraction solvent, the recovery of VLB reached 98.03% with less solvents and extract times. The polymers could selectively adsorb VLB through non-covalent interactions and still exhibited strong affinity for the template molecule but not for the structural analogue vincristine after extraction with methanol-glacial acetic acid (6:4, V/V).

CONCLUSIONMethanol-glacial acetic acid (6:4, V/V) is an ideal extract solvent for complete template molecule removal from the polymers, and the processed polymers possess stable capacity of specific recognition and selectivity to the template.

Molecular Imprinting ; methods ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Polymers ; chemistry ; Reproducibility of Results ; Solvents ; chemistry ; Vinblastine ; isolation & purification

To obtain ginsenoside Rg1 molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) separating materials with high selectivity, enrichment and adsorption performance through directional separation of ginsenoside Rg1 and analogues. In this study, MIPs were respectively prepared by precipitation polymerization and surface imprinted polymerization. Their adsorption performances were compared. The results showed that ginsenoside Rg1 MIPs prepared by the above two methods had a high adsorption performance to template molecules, with the maximum apparent adsorbing capacity of up to 27.74, 46. 80 mg x g(-1), respectively. Moreover, MIPs prepared by surface imprinted polymerization showed higher adsorption capacity than that by precipitation polymerization. The experimental results indicated that as for ginsenoside Rg1 with higher polarity, MIPs prepared by surface imprinted polymerization showed higher selectivity and adsorption performance, which provides provide important reference for preparing imprinted polymers with good adsorption performance with active molecules with strong polarity.
Adsorption ; Chemical Fractionation ; methods ; Chemical Precipitation ; Ginsenosides ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Molecular Imprinting ; Polymerization ; Polymers ; chemical synthesis

The paper, based on the previous publication as special impact of Chinese medicine theories on supramolcular chemistry, aims to analyze the natural origination for the Chinese medicine and to explain the special impact of "Qi chromatography" reaction on "imprinting templates" in supramolcular host of human being with Chinese medicine, in order to reveal the CM's properties of "medical element" with "imprinting templates" autonomisation generally took place in natural supramolecules, and also to discover that the CM's pharmacology are satisfied with its own approaches different form western pharmacology. It was decided, for CM's pharmacology guided by CM's theories, to "Qi chromatography" relations between the CM's ingredient groups and the meridian zang-fu viscera. The supramolcular chemistry played an all-through role in procession of making macro-regularities and special presentation on behavior of "Qi chromatography" impulse owning to the matching action of all kinds of ingredients on the meridian zang-fu viscera with similar "imprinting templates". The CM's pharmacology were guided by CM's theories, owing to its interpretation of supramolecular chemistry. The pharmacology was achieved to construct up completely on base of classical chemical single molecular bonds whereas the CM's pharmacology be configured to big building by way of "imprinting templates" as multi-weak bonds among "supramolecular society". CM's pharmacology was supramolcular pharmacology dealt with "molecular society" on the base of western pharmacology, and employed to double research approaches both math-physical quantitative representation on macroscope and qualitative analyses in microscope.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Meridians ; Molecular Imprinting ; Qi