Molecularly imprinted polymers for selective adsorption of cholesterol from aqueous environment

In this work the preparation and evaluation of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) based on 2-hydroxyethylmetacrylate (HEMA) for selective recovery of cholesterol from aqueous media are reported. HEMA was used as functional monomer in order to maximize the hydrogen bond forming both in prepolymerization complex and in rebinding experiments which were performed in polar solvents; in particular, an acetonitrile:water (7:3 v/v) mixture was employed. The templating effect is clearly seen in the capacity of the synthesized polymers to bind cholesterol, and their selectivity was evaluated using two steroids quite similar to cholesterol such as progesterone and hydrocortisone which are less effectively bound by the matrices.