ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Phenylalanine functionalized cryogels for selective cholesterol removal from milk

Ilgım Göktürk, Yeşeren Saylan, Fatma Yılmaz, Fatma Kartal, and Adil Denizli

Department of Chemistry, Hacettepe University, Çankaya, Turkey

E-mail: denizli@hacettepe.edu.tr

Received: 28 December 2023  Accepted: 25 February 2024

Abstract:

High cholesterol grades are a significant threat factor for coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attacks. General practices focus on lowering cholesterol and saturated fatty acids in the diet to decrease the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Milk is a primary food with high nutritional value and high consumption. Molecularly imprinted cryogels are an excellent alternative according to non-selective methods such as liquid–liquid and/or solid-phase extraction to elute cholesterol selectively from milk. Because the cryogels are low cost, they can be synthesized easily, and the sample can be applied directly to the cryogel without needing any pre-treatment. In this study, we synthesized cholesterol-imprinted (Chl-MIP) cryogel membranes employing aminoacid-based hydrophobic functional comonomer N-methacryloyl-L-phenylalanine to be used as a selective adsorbent to remove cholesterol from milk samples. Chl-MIP cryogel exhibited a maximum Chl adsorption capacity of 12.01 mg/g at 25 °C with an interaction time of 60 min. The selectivity of the cryogel was 2.89 times greater for estradiol molecules and 4.99 times greater for progesterone molecules. Chl-MIP cryogel provides a rapid mass transfer by a short diffusion path without any diffusion restrictions. This process is simple to implement, efficient, affordable, and feasible for use on modern manufacturing lines.

Keywords: Cryogel; Cholesterol removal; Molecular imprinting; Molecularly imprinted polymer

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-024-03392-8

Chemical Papers 78 (7) 4307–4316 (2024)