Polymer synthesis for corona phase molecular recognition based on single-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Current work within Strano Research Group shows that single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) wrapped with methacrylic acid-styrene heteropolymer (MA-ST) can be used for specific corona phase molecular recognition (CoPhMoRe) of Vardenafil, a small molecule drug. This project is a follow-up study on viability of related polymers for CoPhMoRe sensing of five small molecule drugs: Fluticasone, Sumatriptan, Valacyclovir, Vardenafil, and Bupropion. Methacrylic acid-vinylphenylboronic acid (MA-VBA) heteropolymer and acrylic acid-styrene (AA-ST) heteropolymer were synthesized at different monomer ratios and chain lengths. These polymers were suspended with the carbon nanotubes and screened against the five drugs. The (12,1) chirality of MA-VBA-4 and (7,5) chirality of AA-ST-2 were found to be potential candidates for sensing of Fluticasone and Vardenafil respectively. However, MA-ST 8 remains as the superior choice for the specific sensing of Vardenafil.