Preparation of bovine serum albumin‐imprinted calcium polyacrylate/alginate hybrid microspheres via Ca 2+ crosslinking

Macromolecularly imprinted calcium polyacrylate/alginate hybrid polymer microspheres with the imprinting of bovine serum albumin were prepared with sodium alginate and sodium polyacrylate by using CaCl 2 as a gelling agent in inverse‐phase suspension. Infrared spectrum and conductance titration demonstrated that hybrid components were produced in these microspheres. Rebinding isotherms of the microspheres proved a greater bovine serum albumin affinity for imprinted microspheres relative to nonimprinted ones. Selectivity tests indicated that calcium polyacrylate/alginate hybrid polymer microspheres exhibited good recognition properties for the template protein with the separation factor over 5.30 comparing to the competitive proteins with a similar M w . The influence of cross‐linker CaCl 2 concentration on the imprinting efficiency (IE) and rebinding capacity was researched. It was found that the cross‐linking density and imprinting efficiency of the hybrid hydrogel could be improved simultaneously. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009