AbstractNew methods are presented for characterizing MIPs. These methods address the problems of quantitatively comparing the binding properties of different MIPs. Heterogeneous binding models were applied to MIPs based on an exponentially decaying distribution known as the Freundlich isotherm. The Freundlich isotherm was found to accurately model the binding isotherm of the majority of non-covalently imprinted MIPs. Using this model the experimental binding isotherm can be fit in log-log form to a linear equation from which the fitting parameters can be used to plot a quantitative affinity distribution which is a plot of the number of sites with respect to the binding constant of those sites. Comparison of MIPs using this methodology allowed for simpler and more accurate assessment of the binding properties than by previous methods such as the limiting slopes analysese of curved Scatchard plots.
