Investigating two distinct dummy templates molecularly imprinted polymers as paclitaxel adsorbent in synthesis system and releaser in biological samples

Two distinct new dummy-template molecularly imprinted polymers (D-MIPs) for selective extraction of paclitaxel (PTX) were prepared by the bulk polymerization approach using 10-deacetylbaccatin III (10-DAB) and the side chain (SC) of PTX as the template molecules individually. The obtained D-MIPs exhibited high adsorption capacity and high selectivity: 10-DAB-MIPs for PTX 15.48 mg/g and SC-MIPs for PTX 19.23 mg/g. Under the optimum experimental conditions, both 10-DAB-MIPs and SC-MIPs could be successfully applied to enrich PTX from its structural analogs and acted as a drug vehicle for delivering therapy. For example, 10-DAB-MIPs and SC-MIPs were used as PTX carriers, and the carriers were incubated with artificial gastric juice, artificial intestinal fluid, and patient fecal samples. PTX was detected in samples with an elution rate of about 45%, indicating that the two D-MIPs were good vehicles for delivering PTX in the intestine. The results showed that these D-MIPs had great potential to be used as adsorbing materials for PTX and for drug delivery systems in complex biological systems.