Yohimbine-imprinted polymers

Berglund et al. have recently described selection of phage display combinatorial library peptides with affinity for a yohimbine imprinted methacrylate polymer [90]. 

Molecularly imprinted sorbent assays represent one of the most typical applications of biomimetic use, where imprinted polymers are used as substitutes of natural antibodies in immunoassays. The assays usually involve competitive binding of an analyte with a certain quantity of labeled ligands, in which the labeled ligand unbound is proportional to the analyte added. Because dissociation constants of common imprinted polymers are around 10 6-10 9 M, competitive binding assays could easily be performed. In practice, many molecularly imprinted sorbent assays have been developed for biologically active compounds, including theophylline, diazepam [26], S-propranolol [27], morphine, Leu-enkephalin [28], cyclosporin A [29], yohimbine [30], methyl-a-glucoside [31], corticosteroid [32], atrazine [33, 34], and 2,4-D [35]. 

Examples of this technique are described for artificial receptors for the alkaloid yohimbine binding peptides obtained from a phage display library [57], for the steroid libraries related to lla-hydroxyprogesterone [58], corticosterone [58] (reported in Fig. 12), and cortisol [59]. A molecularly imprinted polymer working as a synthetic receptor for a series of chiral benzodiazepines [47], artificial receptors for the tricyclic antidepressant drug nortriptyline—obtained by covalent and noncovalent molecular imprinting and studied by capillary liquid chromatography with a simulated combinatorial library [60,61]—were also examined. 

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