Study on magnetic thermal seeds coated with thermal-responsive molecularly imprinted polymers

Abstract We conceived a novel hybrid carrier of a thermal-responsive molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) and a magnetic thermal seed (MTS) that showed a heat-generating ability under an alternate current (AC) magnetic field. Compared to our previous publications, we modify both the MIP and MTS to improve the feasibility for the hybrid carrier, briefly we have to achieve the accurate size control and narrower size distribution of MTS, and higher molecular recognition/release ability of MIP. Firstly, uniformly sized particles which are expected to show a large heat-generating ability under an AC magnetic field were successfully prepared by controlling the core creation. Then, an MIP targeted for selective adsorption of pemetrexed (PMX), a well-known anti-cancer drug, was prepared using N-carbobenzoxy-l-glutamic acid as a pseudo template. Finally, the preliminary hybridization of the MTS and the MIP-equivalent polymer coating was examined by introducing vinyl groups as methacrylic acid using a ligand exchanging method. Graphical Abstract