The interaction of se
ven no
vel fluorescent labeled
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
-lactams with a library of six polymer materials molecularlyimprinted (MI) with
penicillin G (PenG) has been e
valuated using both radioacti
ve and fluorescence com
petiti
veassays. The highly fluorescent com
petitors (emissionquantum yields of 0.4-0.95) ha
ve been molecularlyengineered to contain pyrene or dansyl labels whilekeeping intact the 6-amino
penicillanic acid moiety forefficient recognition by the cross-linked polymers. Pyrenemethylacetamido
penicillanic acid (PAAP) is the taggedantibiotic that pro
vides the highest selecti
vity when com
peting with PenG for the s
pecific binding sites in a MIpolymer prepared with methacrylic acid and trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (10:15 molar ratio) in acetonitrilein the presence of PenG. Molecular modeling shows thatrecognition of the fluorescent analogues of PenG by theMI material is due to a combination of size and sha
peselecti
vity and demonstrates how critical the choice oflabel and tether chain is. PAAP has been applied to thede
velopment of a fluorescence com
petiti
ve assay for PenGanalysis with a dynamic range of 3-890
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
M in 99:1acetonitrile-water solution. Com
petiti
ve binding studiesdemonstrate
various degrees of cross-reacti
vity for someantibiotics deri
ved from 6-amino
penicillanic acid, particularly amoxicillin, ampicillin, and
penicillin V (but notoxacillin, cloxacillin, dicloxacillin, or nafcillin). Otherantibiotics, such as chloramphenicol, tetracycline, orcephapirin, do not com
pete with PAAP for binding to theimprinted polymer. The MI assay has successfully beentested for PenG analysis in a pharmaceutical formulation.