| Hemeproteins are known for their spectroscopic properties which change during the binding of specific ligands. This project envisioned the immobilization of myoglobin from horse skeletal muscle (Mb) and hemoglobin I from Lucina pectinata (HbI) in hydrophilic polymer networks to use them as recognition elements in biosensor applications. Two immobilization techniques were considered, adsorption and entrapment. Hydrophilic polymer networks of various morphologies were tailored to examine the maximum encapsulation efficiency of each. Anionic hydrogels composed of methacrylic acid (MAA), cationic hydrogels composed of dimethylamino ethyl methacrylate (DMAEM) and the neutral hydrogels composed of poly(ethylene glycol) monomethylether monomethacrylate (PEGMA) (n=200, 400, 1000), all crosslinked with poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDMA) (n=200, 600, 1000), were synthesized by free radical solution polymerization. Using adsorption immobilization method, MAA based hydrogels incorporated the highest amount of Mb when compared to PEGMA or DMAEM polymers. Evaluation of the correlation length of the networks revealed that MAA hydrogels possessed the highest correlation length (15.611-26.988nm) when compared to PEGMA containing matrices (0.254-0.342nm) or DMAEM hydrogels (1.461-1.645nm). (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
