Perfluorocarbons, suspension polymerisation

Liquid fluorocarbon was used as continuous phase by Perez-Moral and Mayes [19] as well. They proposed a new method for rapid synthesis of MIP beads, in that they prepared 36 polymers imprinted for propranolol and morphine with different amounts of EDMA as a cross-linker and different functional monomers (MAA, acrylic acid, hydroxyethyl methacrylate, 4-vinylpyridine) directly in SPE cartridges. The properties of MIP microspheres prepared by this method were very similar in terms of size, morphology and extent of rebinding to microspheres prepared by conventional suspension polymerisation in perfluorocarbons as well as to bulk polymers prepared in the same solvent. The most notable advantages of this method are no waste production (no transfer of beads during washing steps) and possible direct use for a variety of screening, evaluation and optimisation experiments. 

Using a similar philosophy to the perfluorocarbon liquid approach, Piletsky carried out suspension polymerisations in silicone oil. This liquid is also immiscible with some organic liquids, although the range of immiscible combinations is much smaller than for perfluorocarbons. Beads were successfully produced containing imprints of ATP and poly-A in an EDMA/A,A-diethyl-2-aminoethylmethacrylate system with DMF as solvent and an excess of silicone oil as dispersant [21]. 

Mayes, A.G. Mosbach, K. Molecularly imprinted polymer beads Suspension polymerisation using a liquid perfluorocarbon as the dispersing phase. Anal. Chem. 1996, 68, 3769-3774. 

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