Synthesis of an Imprinted Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Polymeric Sol-Gel Matrix Toward the Specific Binding and Isotherm Kinetics Investigation of Creatinine

Hybrid organic-inorganic polymeric sol-gel materials imprinted with creatinine template molecules were synthesized for the specific binding of creatinine. Creatinine is a metabolite from creatine and is the final product from kidney metabolism. Therefore, creatinine can be an important index to estimate the function of the kidney. It was then chosen as the target molecule in this work. To achieve the specific binding toward creatinine, molecular imprinting was used to create a polymeric matrix for the regarding purpose. Sol-gel was further added to create a rigid network structure for the absorption of creatinine. An inorganic precursor, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), was mixed with an organic functional monomer, 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane-sulfonic acid (AMPS), and the creatinine template to form a hybrid organic-inorganic imprinted polymer. The chemical functionality was achieved as well as a confined matrix via the polymerization and the hydrolysis-condensation of the sol-gel. The imprinting effect from the hybrid materials against the corresponding nonimprinted was investigated. BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) analysis was carried out for the imprinted and the nonimprinted materials. The specificity of the hybrid materials was further examined by capping the surface silanol groups with chloro-trimethylsilane (CTMS) and 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS), respectively. The capping effect was compared and discussed from the binding results. Selectivity of the materials toward creatinine was obtained using mixture solutions in the presence of creatinine and its analogues. Reutilization and storage stability of the hybrid organic-inorganic imprinted material were also studied. Additionally, the affinity distribution of the hybrid imprinted materials derived from the allosteric model was also analyzed from the adsorption isotherm data.