Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) membranes with specific adsorption properties for potential clinical application

The unique feature of molecularly imprinted membranes is the interplay of selective binding and transport properties, making them potentially superior to state-of-the-art synthetic separation membranes already applied in various biological and biomedical fields [1]. Adsorption capability and transport properties of microporous imprinted membranes can be based on template-specific binding sites in trans-membrane pores, which serve as fixed recognition cavities reservoir. The main problem is, in any case, the optimization of MIM recognition and membrane transport properties at the same time, which is a challenging but not impossible obstacle to overcome. The prepared EVAL-based membranes showed good specific adsorption capability and binding selectivity: the quantitative up-taking performance of membranes were superior than other values reported for imprinted selective systems; in fact, these membranes demonstrated that, even if permeation parameters have to be improved, the estimated adsorption of molecularly imprinted membranes resulted higher if compared with the values reported in other papers [2,3]. The imprinting efficiency, the membrane morphology (microporosity) and separation conditions (using plasma solution or blood as well) can be further investigated and optimized in order to improve the selective performances and to continue on the road of specific membranes at the nanoscale.