Measurement artifacts identified in the UV–vis spectroscopic study of adduct formation within the context of molecular imprinting of naproxen

•Molecular dynamics simulations indicated naproxen–sol–gel precursors affinity•Experimentally that affinity appeared to affect the UV spectrum of naproxen•Theoretical calculations revealed no effect of precursors on naproxen spectrum.•An artifact related with background subtraction explains erroneous measurements.•A methodological error in the evaluation of sol–gel precursor affinity was identified.

The ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy has been assessed as a technique for the evaluation of the strength of template–precursor adduct in the development of molecular imprints of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug naproxen (NAP). The commonly employed approach relies on the collection of UV spectra of drug + precursor mixtures at different proportions, the spectra being recorded against blanks containing the same concentration of the precursor. The observation of either blue or red band-shifts and abatement of a major band are routinely attributed to template–precursor adduct formation. Following the described methodology, the precursors 1-(triethoxysilylpropyl)-3-(trimethoxysilylpropyl)-4,5-dihydroimidazolium iodide (AO-DHI+) and 4-(2-(trimethoxysilyl)ethyl)pyridine (PETMOS) provoked a blue-shift and band abatement effect on the NAP spectrum. Molecular dynamics simulations indicated a reasonable affinity between NAP and these precursors (coordination numbers 0.33 for AO-DHI+ and 0.18 for PETMOS), hence showing that NAP-precursor complexation is in fact effective. However, time dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations of the spectra of both free and precursor-complexed NAP were identical, thus providing no theoretical basis for the complexation-induced effects observed. We realized that the intense spectral bands of AO-DHI+ and PETMOS (at around 265 nm) superimpose partially with the NAP bands, and the apparent “blue-shifting” in the NAP spectra when mixed with AO-DHI + and PETMOS was in this case a spurious effect of the intense background subtraction. Therefore, extreme care must be taken when interpreting other spectroscopic results obtained in a similar fashion.

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