Synergistic design of ionic liquid monomers and MOF–cellulose scaffolds for selective protein recognition in molecularly imprinted materials

To address the low binding-site density and mass-transfer limitations of conventional protein-molecularly imprinted polymers (P-MIPs), this study proposes a synergistic strategy combining a custom-synthesized imidazolium ionic liquid monomer, 1-vinyl-3-diacetamidoimidazolium chloride ([VDAIM]Cl), with a bacterial-cellulose@UiO-66 (BC@UiO-66) hybrid scaffold. Spectral characterization and molecular docking simulations revealed multiple strong interactions between [VDAIM]Cl and bovine serum albumin (BSA), enhancing the stability of the pre-polymer complex compared to conventional monomers. Meanwhile, benefiting from the structural advantages of BC, the template immobilization-surface imprinting strategy (TIS- co -SIT) was employed to construct a high-affinity imprinted membrane. The resulting BC@UiO-66@MIPs exhibited fast adsorption equilibrium within 50 min, a large binding capacity of 502.5 ± 27 ( n  = 3) mg g −1 , and a high imprinting factor ( IF ) of 6.27 ± 0.84 (n = 3). Furthermore, BC@UiO-66@MIPs also demonstrated excellent reusability, retaining over 90% of its initial binding capacity after ten adsorption-desorption cycles. Notably, the materials exhibited outstanding selectivity, with a competitive adsorption factor ( α ) of 5.57 ± 0.62 ( n  = 3) in binary BSA/BHb mixtures, and a high permeation selectivity coefficient ( β ) of 6.37. The membrane successfully isolated BSA from complex calf serum, confirming its practical potential for protein purification. This study constructs an efficient molecular imprinting system by integrating rational monomer design with advanced porous supports to enhance protein recognition and purification.