Education

Research experience

Research   results                                                                                                                                          

Polymer monolithic columns for nano scale peptide separation: For HPLC chromatography separation, the sensitivity can be improved by using columns with low internal diameter (ID), because the analytes will then elute in a lower volume with a higher concentration. Using surface treatment and silanization (3-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxysilane) of the glass capillary, polymer monolithic columns with an ID less than 50 µm were successfully synthesized for nano-scale peptide separation. The alternative stationary phase material showed relatively good separation efficiency, nice morphology and excellent reproducibility for peptide separation.

Nanoparticles stabilized emulsion polymerization for small molecules recognition: Water plays an important role in molecular recognition by natural enzymes. However, traditional MIPs are difficult to selectively recognize the target in water media. To overcome this limitation, by mimicking natural enzymes, I proposed a new approach based on Pickering emulsions that might introduce water molecules to the recognition process by constructing hierarchical structure of MIPs, which would result in MIPs having specific recognition ability in water environments.

MIPs towards protein or cells: Particle (virus or bacteria) stabilized emulsions are used to develop specific adsorption materials towards bio-macromolecules. These materials are bio-macromolecules response, which shown great potential for the practical application.

Controlled release of drugs based on hybrid colloidosomes: i) Using CaCO₃ stabilized Pickering emulsion, controlled release of nicotine from chewing gun (CaCO₃-chitosan colloidosomes) can be achieved. In comparison with the traditional way, no neutralization reaction was needed in this new delivery system, which leads the nicotine chewing gun to better taste. ii) A novel method is proposed to generate micro-container having the controlled release ability for antioxidants. Because of size change of the MIP nanoparticles during the binding process, open channels will be formed on the micro-container surface, which will provide easy transfer of antioxidants from the inner oil to the surrounding food.

Molecular imprinted inorganic crystals: MIPs can be used as adsorbents in removal of pollutants, because MIPs have high selectivity to the targets. However, the adsorption amount of the targets by MIPs is limited. Another material, rutile crystal photocatalyst (TiO₂) with has been shown to be able to remove Highly Toxic Organic Pollutants (HTOPs). However, it is difficult to realize selective removal of low-level HTOPs from complicated wastewaters via photocatalytic treatment, because TiO₂ has very poor selectivity and cannot differentiate between these pollutants. By combining the merits of the two materials, we developed a new method to obtain high selectivity by coating imprinted polymers on the photocatalyst’s surface. Using these photocatalysts, we can selectively and rapidly mineralize the target HTOPs in the presence of high-level of less toxic pollutants. Now, this method has been the most efficient method to achieve selective degradation. Recently, a Chemical Industry Pilot Plant has been set up in a Chinese company (Hubei Greenhome Chemical Limited Company) by using this king of crystal catalysts for wastewater treatment.

Mechanism study in molecular imprinting: Over the past decade, the progress in molecular imprinting technology were mainly in the preparation of MIPs and its analytical applications,relatively little effort has been done towards characterizing and understanding the physical mechanism underlying MIP formation and MIP-ligand recognition. i) By using the template itself as a probe, we concluded that that both hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions contributed to the specific template binding to the water-compatible MIPs, whereas only electrostatic interaction played the main role in specific template binding to the traditional MIPs. ii) Based on some new technologies (e.g. synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy), we confirmed the template has profound interaction with the monomers during the molecular imprinting reaction.

Publications    

(1)  Shen, X.; Bonde, J. S.; Kamra, T.; Bülow, L.; Leo, J. C.; Linke, D.; Ye, L., Bacterial Imprinting at Pickering Emulsion Interfaces; Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2014, 53, 10687-10690. (IF= 13.734, Times Cited: 4)

(2)  Tu, Z.; Tang, H.; Shen, X.*, Particle-assisted semidirect breath figure method: A facile way to endow the honeycomb-structured Petri dish with molecular recognition capability; ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2014, 6, 12931-12938. (IF= 5.008, Times Cited: 2)

(3)  Huang, C.; Shen, X.*, Janus molecularly imprinted polymer particles; Chem. Commun., 2014, 50, 2646-2649. (IF= 6.378, Times Cited: 7)

(4)  Huang, C.; Shen, X.*, Breath figure patterns made easy; ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2014, 6, 5971-5976. (IF= 5.008, Times Cited: 3)

(5)  Shen, X.; Xu, C., Uddin, K. M. A.; Larsson, P.-O.; Ye, L., Molecular recognition with colloidosomes enabled by imprinted polymer nanoparticles and fluorogenic boronic acid. J. Mater. Chem., B, 2013, 1, 4612-4618. (IF= 6.101, Times Cited: 7)

(6)   Zhou, T.; Shen, X.*; Shilpi, C.; Ye, L., Molecularly imprinted polymer beads prepared by pickering emulsion polymerization for steroid recognition. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2014, 131, 39606. (IF= 1.395, Times Cited: 4)

(7)  Shen, X.; Zhu, L.; Wang, N.; Zhang, T.; Tang, H., Selective photocatalytic degradation of nitrobenzene facilitated by molecular imprinting with a transition state analog. Catal. Today, 2014, 225, 164-170. (IF= 2.98, Times Cited: 2)

(8)  Huang, C., Tu, Z.; Shen, X.*, Molecularly imprinted photocatalyst with a structural analogue of template and its application. J. Hazard. Mater., 2013, 248-249, 379-386. (IF= 3.925, Times Cited: 4)

(9)   Shen, X.; Xu, C.; Ye, L., Molecularly imprinted polymers for clean water: Analysis and purification. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.,2013, 52, 13890-13899. (IF= 2.206, Times Cited: 5)

(10)  Shen, X.; Zhou, T.; Ye, L., Molecular imprinting of protein in Pickering emulsion. Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 8198-8200. (IF= 6.378, Times Cited: 27)

(11)  Shen, X.; Xu, C.; Ye, L., Imprinted polymer beads enabling direct and selective molecular separation in water. Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 3169-3176. (IF= 3.909, Times Cited: 20)

(12)  Xu, C.; Shen, X. (co-first author); Ye, L., Molecularly imprinted magnetic materials prepared from modular and clickable nanoparticles. J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 7427-7433. (IF= 6.101, Times Cited: 15)

(13)  Shen, X.; Zhu, L.; Wang, N.; Ye, L.; Tang, H., Molecular imprinting for removing highly toxic organic pollutants. Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 788-798. (IF= 6.378, Times Cited: 43)

(14)  Tang, H.; Zhu, L.; Yu, C.; Shen, X.*, Selective photocatalysis mediated by magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers. Sep. Purif. Technol., 2012, 95, 165-171. (IF= 2.894, Times Cited: 12)

(15)  Shen, X.; Ye, L., Molecular imprinting in Pickering emulsions: a new insight into molecular recognition in water. Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 10359-10361. (IF= 6.378, Times Cited: 31)

(16)  Shen, X.; Ye, L., Interfacial molecular imprinting in nanoparticle-stabilized emulsions. Macromolecules, 2011, 44, 5631-5637. (IF= 5.521, Times Cited: 40)

(17)  Shen, X.; Zhu, L.; Huang, C.; Tang, H., Yu, Z.; Deng, F., Inorganic molecular imprinted titanium dioxide photocatalyst: synthesis, characterization and its application for efficient and selective degradation of phthalate esters. J. Mater. Chem., 2009, 19, 4843-4851. (IF= 6.101, Times Cited: 39)

(18)  Shen, X.; Zhu, L.; Yu, H.; Tang, H.; Liu, S.; Li, W., Selective photocatalysis on molecular imprinted TiO2 thin films prepared via an improved liquid phase deposition method. New J. Chem., 2009, 33, 1673-1679. (IF= 2.966, Times Cited: 20)

(19)  Shen, X.; Zhu, L.; Liu, G.; Tang, H., Liu, S.; Li, W., Photocatalytic removal of pentachlorophenol by means of an enzyme-like molecular imprinted photocatalyst and inhibition of the generation of highly toxic intermediates. New J. Chem., 2009, 33, 2278-2285. (IF= 2.966, Times Cited: 12)

(20)  Shen, X.; Zhu, L.; Liu, G.; Yu, H.; Tang, H., Enhanced photocatalytic degradation and selective removal of nitrophenols by using surface molecular imprinted titania. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2008, 42, 1687-1692. (IF= 5.257, Times Cited: 91)

(21)  Shen, X.; Zhu, L.; Li, J.; Tang, H., Synthesis of molecular imprinted polymer coated photocatalysts with high selectivity. Chem. Commun., 2007, 11, 1163-1165. (IF= 6.378, Times Cited: 61)

(22)  Huang, C.; Eng E., Lars E.; Gjelstad, A.; Shen, X.; Trones, R.; Jensen, H.; Pedersen-Bjergaard, S., Development of a flat membrane based device for electromembrane extraction: a new approach for exhaustive extraction of basic drugs from human plasma. J. Chromatogr. A, 2014, 1326, 7-12. (IF= 4.449, Times Cited: 5)

(23)  Xu, C., Uddin, K. M. A.; Shen, X.; Jayawarden, H. S., Yan, M.; Ye, L., Photoconjugation of molecularly imprinted polymer with magnetic nanoparticles. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2013, 5, 5208-5213. (IF= 5.008, Times Cited: 6)

(24)  Li, Ji; Tang, H.; Zhang, Ai; Shen, X.; Zhu, L., A new strategy for the synthesis of polyaniline nanostructures: From nanofibers to nanowires. Macro. Rap. Comm., 2007, 28, 740-745. (IF= 4.929, Times Cited: 36)

(25)  Wang, N.; Xu, Y.; Zhu, L.; Shen, X.; Tang, H., Reconsideration to the deactivation of TiO₂ catalyst during simultaneous photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) and oxidation of salicylic acid. J. Photochem. Photobiol. A: Chem., 2009, 201, 121-127. (IF= 2.416, Times Cited: 29)