Biomimetic Silica Nanoparticles Prepared by a Combination of Solid-Phase Imprinting and Ostwald Ripening.

ABSTRACT: Herein we describe the preparation of molecularly imprinted silica nanoparticles by Ostwald ripening in the presence of molecular templates immobilised on glass beads (the solid-phase). To achieve this, a seed material (12 nm diameter silica nanoparticles) was incubated in phosphate buffer in the presence of the solid-phase. Phosphate ions act as a catalyst in the ripening process which is driven by differences in surface energy between particles of different size, leading to the preferential growth of larger particles. Material deposited in the vicinity of template molecules results in the formation of sol-gel molecular imprints after around 2 hours. Selective washing and elution allows the higher affinity nanoparticles to be isolated. Unlike other strategies commonly used to prepare impr

SUBMITTER: Piletska E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5599519 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature