Abstract
Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) can be an alternative to antibodies, which suffer from certain limitations, such as their stability and production cost. A molecular imprint is a cavity created in a synthetic polymer able to capture a target molecule with a certain selectivity, ideally a relevant protein. The shape, but especially, the chemical functions present in the imprint, are essential to generate interactions with the protein template, responsible of its selective capture. Moreover, during polymerization, it is necessary to create specific interactions with the target protein without degrading it to obtain a relevant imprint. MIPs of relevant protein should have many applications, such as separation tools or for diagnosis.In this context, to create specific interactions which mimic protein-protein interactions between the material and the protein template we explored a bio-inspired approach of protein imprinting. Indeed, novel silylated amino acids derivatives were used as functional monomers during the sol-gel inorganic polymerization, performed in water at pH 8 as a bioorthogonal reaction, to prepare relevant imprints avoiding protein denaturation.The synthesis of triethoxysilane amino acid derivatives monomers will be presented, as well as the syntheses of the first protein-imprinted magnetic nanoparticles used to selectively capture model proteins.