Selective adsorption of protein by a high-efficiency Cu²⁺-cooperated magnetic imprinted nanomaterial

We report a core–shell magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer with high affinity through a facile sol–gel method for the selective adsorption of bovine hemoglobin from real bovine blood. Copper ions grafted on the surface of the matrix could immobilize template protein through chelation, which greatly enhances the orderliness of imprinted cavities and affinity of polymers. The obtained products exhibit a desired level of magnetic susceptibility, resulting in the highly efficient adsorption process. The results of adsorption experiments show that the saturation adsorption capacity of imprinted products could reach 116.3 mg/g within 30 min. Meanwhile, the specific binding experiment demonstrates the high selectivity of polymers for bovine hemoglobin. Furthermore, satisfactory reusability is demonstrated by ten adsorption–desorption cycles with no obvious deterioration in binding capacity. Electrophoretic analysis suggests the polymer could be used successfully in separation and enrichment of bovine hemoglobin from the bovine blood sample, which exhibits potential application in pretreatment of proteomics.