ExploraSep4Process allows rapid discovery of separation materials, says MIP
Swedish nanotech firm MIP Technologies has launched a process for the identification of separation materials.
Swedish nanotech firm MIP Technologies has launched a process for the identification of separation materials.
ExploraSep4Process consists of 130 different molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and non-imprinted polymer phases distributed across four different types of chemical functionality relevant for the separation of complex mixtures of chemical compounds.
The process will be used in a rapid screen format to discover new separation methods for analytical chemists in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries.
Molecularly imprinted polymers are porous polymers in which artificial receptor sites are created by using a template or mould around which chemical functionalities are positioned in space. After polymerisation the template is removed to reveal a pocket whose structure is a surface image of the template molecule.
"We have taken the pharmacophore concept and applied it to the separations field," said Anthony Rees, ceo of MIP Technologies. "With pharmacological receptors, molecules with 'similar' chemical functionalities and geometries - all fitting a similar set of particular properties embodied in a 'pharmacophore' structure - will bind to the same receptor site."
Ecevit Yilmaz, chief technology officer at MIP Technologies, added: "ExploraSep will take the uncertainty out of sorbent screening and allow analytical chemists in process divisions to streamline their sample preparation development."
ExploraSep4Process has been developed to enable the discovery of separation phases that can be produced efficiently at the process scale and will facilitate the identification of separation or polishing materials for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, the company says.