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Control of the molecular permeability of polysaccharide composite films utilizing a molecular imprinting approach

Polymer Journal volume 54, pages 571–579 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Natural macromolecules are attractive feedstocks to produce useful biomaterials. Our group has developed a process for the fabrication of free-standing films made of polyion complexes (PICs) of polysaccharides, such as chondroitin sulfate C (CS) and chitosan (CHI) (CS/CHI films), using hot press techniques. In this work, we report the preparation of molecularly imprinted CS/CHI films using methylene blue (MB), a small cationic dye, and the evaluation of the molecular permeability of the films for charged permeants in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). The CS/CHI films with MB imprinting (MB-imprinted films) were evaluated by FT-IR measurements, zeta potential measurements, and electron microscopic observation. Comparison of MB permeability of the MB-imprinted films and nonimprinted films indicated that the imprinting effect was observed for the swollen films of polysaccharide PICs that maintained their morphologies by noncovalent interactions. To evaluate the effect of the permeant on the permeation behaviors, orange II (OR) and porphyrin derivatives were used as permeants. In the case of porphyrin derivatives, having larger sizes and more charges, the inner voids of the films were not significant for the permeation behavior, but the surface charges of the films were important. CHI coating on the MB-imprinted films was also performed to improve the permeation behavior of MB.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) from MEXT, Japan (16K05799 and 19K05588 to MH). We thank Prof. Hidenori Otsuka (Tokyo University of Science) for the zeta potential measurements. We also thank Ms. Tamao Yamamoto (Tokyo University of Science) for the additional experiments.

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  1. Kazutoshi Iijima

    Present address: Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, 240-8501, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo University of Science, 12-1 Ichigayafunagawara-machi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-0826, Japan

    Takuya Sagawa, Yusuke Yataka, Kazutoshi Iijima & Mineo Hashizume

  2. Graduate School of Engineering, Tokyo University of Science, 12-1 Ichigayafunagawara-machi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-0826, Japan

    Takuya Sagawa, Masaya Oishi & Mineo Hashizume

  3. Graduate School of Chemical Sciences and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 12-1 Ichigayafunagawara-machi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-0826, Japan

    Ryo Sato & Mineo Hashizume

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Correspondence to Mineo Hashizume.

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Sagawa, T., Oishi, M., Yataka, Y. et al. Control of the molecular permeability of polysaccharide composite films utilizing a molecular imprinting approach. Polym J 54, 571–579 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-021-00605-9

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