Separation of bovine hemoglobin using novel magnetic molecular imprinted nanoparticles

Magnetic molecular imprinted nanoparticles (MMIPs), combining the progressiveness of magnetic nanoparticles and surface molecular imprinting technology, have attracted increasing attention because of the high efficiency and specificity in isolation and enrichment of the target protein. This study focused on the preparation of bovine hemoglobin MMIPs with bovine hemoglobin (BHb) as the template protein and the molecular imprinted polymer covering the functional magnetic nanoparticles modified with silane and acrylic groups. The physicochemical characteristics as well as the dynamics and isothermal adsorption properties of the generated nanoparticles were investigated to determine their efficiency and specificity in the adsorption of target protein. The maximum adsorption of the target protein was 169.29 mg g(−1) at a specific pH, which was much larger than those obtained in some other research reports. MMIPs showed favorable selectivity towards BHb in a mixture of three different proteins. The results indicated the significant effects and broad prospects of MMIPs in the isolation and enrichment of specific proteins in the field of food, medicine and biological research.