The invention relates to a caffeine-templated MIP copolymer matrix and devices employing these polymers that exhibit high absorbance or binding capacity for caffeine while retaining rapid caffeine uptake kinetics, and which function in both cold and hot aqueous environments to selectively remove caffeine from a beverage with a high selectivity factor in order to better preserve the sensory aspects of the decaffeinated beverage, and which can easily be used by a typical consumer to treat their beverage within a short time frame of less than about one minute. More specifically, the invention relates to copolymeric MIP matrices produced according to methods wherein the template to polymer ratio is dramatically increased in order to raise the affinity of the resulting MIP materials, and hyper-crosslinked MIP matrices produced using higher amounts of crosslinking agents to produce high affinity copolymer matrices that better maintain a high degree of selectivity towards caffeine while minimizing the uptake of congeners to better maintain the sensory characteristics of the decaffeinated beverages. The invention further relates to manual and mechanical devices employing the inventive MIP matrices in a variety of physical forms and configurations that enable a user to decaffeinate a beverage manually or automatically within one minute or less, or select a level of decaffeination by controlling the exposure time to said devices.

The present invention relates to a method of preparing a molecular sensor that is specific for a target molecule having a saccharide or peptide region. The method comprises using the target molecule as a template and incubating the template with a receptor to form a template-receptor complex. A molecular scaffold is formed on a surface around the template-receptor complex such that the receptor and at least a portion of the template are embedded in the scaffold, and the template is removed to produce a cavity defined by the scaffold, such that the cavity is complementary to at least a portion of the saccharide or peptide region of the target molecule.

The present disclosure features a composition, including molecularly imprinted crosslinked polymers that have been imprinted with trimethylamine N-oxide. The molecularly imprinted crosslinked polymers have specific binding sites for trimethylamine N-oxide, and a trimethylamine N-oxide absorption capacity of at least 0.5 mg/g.

The present invention relates to a method of preparing a molecular sensor that is specific for a target molecule having a saccharide or peptide region. The method comprises using the target molecule as a template and incubating the template with a receptor to form a template-receptor complex. A molecular scaffold is formed on a surface around the template-receptor complex such that the receptor and at least a portion of the template are embedded in the scaffold, and the template is removed to produce a cavity defined by the scaffold, such that the cavity is complementary to at least a portion of the saccharide or peptide region of the target molecule.

The present invention relates to a molecularly imprinted polymer for binding glycans, wherein the molecularly imprinted polymer is obtainable by providing a saccharide template such as a glycan; providing at least two functional monomers capable of cooperatively; interacting with the template; providing a crosslinking monomer; polymerizing the monomers optionally dissolved in a solvent, in presence of the saccharide template; and removing the template from the formed polymer. The invention is also related to a method for their production and use of the molecularly imprinted polymer.

The present invention provides methods of designing molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) which have applications in extracting bioactive compounds from a range of bioprocessing feedstocks and wastes. The present invention is further directed to MIPs designed by the methods of the present invention.

The present disclosure features a composition, including molecularly imprinted crosslinked polymers that have been imprinted with trimethylamine N-oxide. The molecularly imprinted crosslinked polymers have specific binding sites for trimethylamine N-oxide, and a trimethylamine N-oxide absorption capacity of at least 0.5 mg/g.

A layer structure having a solid substrate having a surface, the surface carrying a layer including a molecularly imprinted polymer, wherein the molecularly imprinted polymer is adapted to bind a glyphosate analyte, wherein the glyphosate analyte is selected from glyphosate, a glyphosate degradation product, a metabolite of glyphosate or a metabolite of the degradation product of glyphosate, wherein a fluorescence characteristic of the molecularly imprinted polymer changes upon binding of the glyphosate analyte. Further, a method for detecting a glyphosate analyte in a sample includes: providing the layer structure having the molecularly imprinted polymer; providing a fluidic contact of the layer structure with the sample or an organic extract of the sample; measuring a fluorescence property of the layer structure; and estimating a concentration of glyphosate or of the glyphosate related analyte at least semi-quantitatively.

This disclosure relates to a method/system for associating at least one target molecule with a molecularly imprinted polymer and/or a method/system of obtaining at least one target molecule from a source material. More particularly, this disclosure relates to use of liquid or fluid carbon dioxide in various steps related to use of molecularly imprinted polymers.

A chemical analysis apparatus that quantitatively determines an object of detection rapidly with high sensitivity, and a pretreatment apparatus and a chemical analysis method used for the chemical analysis apparatus, are provided. The chemical analysis apparatus includes a pretreatment unit that accommodates a molecularly imprinted polymer capable of capturing a polar group-containing molecule included in a specimen. A quantification unit quantitatively determines a component included in the specimen that has been passed through the pretreatment unit.