Novel chiral recognition elements for molecularly imprinted polymer preparation.

The use of a novel chiral functional monomer system in molecular imprinting protocols is described. The monomer, dibenzyl (2R,3R)-O-monoacryloyl tartrate, possesses a hydroxyl moiety which can be used to direct template-functional monomer interactions during molecular imprinting polymerization. This system simultaneously positions benzyl ester-protected carboxyl groups in close proximity to the template, which upon deprotection yield recognition sites with stronger ligand-binding capacities. Furthermore, the inherent chirality of the monomer engenders the polymer with an inbuilt preference for a given stereoisomer. Application of the system to the molecular imprinting of the cinchonidine alkaloids (+)-cinchonine and (-)-cinchonidine yielded stereoselective polymers. The effect of imprinting (+)-cinchonine produced a polymer which more than reversed the inherent chiral selectivity of the chiral monomer residues present in the matrix.