Oxytocin-Selective Nanogel Antibody Mimics

Abstract

Oxytocin imprinted polymer nanoparticles were synthesized by glass bead supported solid phase synthesis, with NMR and molecular dynamics studies used to investigate monomer–template interactions. The nanoparticles were characterized by dynamic light scattering, scanning- and transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Investigation of nanoparticle-template recognition using quartz crystal microbalance-based studies revealed sub-nanomolar affinity, kd ≈ 0.3 ± 0.02 nM (standard error of the mean), comparable to that of commercial polyclonal antibodies, kd ≈ 0.02–0.2 nM.

Keywords

• molecular dynamics
• molecularly imprinted polymer
• nanoparticle
• NMR
• peptide imprinting
• plastic antibody