Preliminary Evaluation of Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Synthesized with Dopamine Hydrochloride as a Template

A new easy approach to separation of dopamine hydrochloride is reported. The molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was used as the adsorbent material. The MIP was prepared employing dopamine hydrochloride as a template and methacrylic acid (MAA) with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) in co-polymerization process. Non-covalent prearrangement between dopamine hydrochloride and methacrylic acid in organic porogen prior to bulk polymerization was utilized. Preliminary chromatographic results showed that dopamine hydrochloride could be retained by the polymer and then eluted using optimized elution protocol. The interactions between template and monomers were proposed of the basis of semiempirical PM3 theoretical calculation.