Molecular imprinting: perspectives and applications

Abstract

a Molecular imprinting technology (MIT), often described as a method of making a molecular lock to match a molecular key, is a technique for the creation of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) with tailor-made binding sites complementary to the template molecules in shape, size and functional groups. Owing to their unique features of structure predictability, recognition specificity and application universality, MIPs have found a wide range of applications in various fields. Herein, we propose to comprehensively review the recent advances in molecular imprinting including versatile perspectives and applications, concerning novel preparation technologies and strategies of MIT, and highlight the applications of MIPs. The fundamentals of MIPs involving essential elements, preparation procedures and characterization methods are briefly outlined.Smart MIT for MIPs is especially highlighted including ingenious MIT (surface imprinting, nanoimprinting, etc.), special strategies of MIT (dummy imprinting, segment imprinting, etc.) and stimuli-responsive MIT (single/dual/ multi-responsive technology). By virtue of smart MIT, new formatted MIPs gain popularity for versatile applications, including sample pretreatment/chromatographic separation (solid phase extraction, monolithic column chromatography, etc.) and chemical/biological sensing (electrochemical sensing, fluorescence sensing, etc.). Finally, we propose the remaining challenges and future perspectives to accelerate the development of MIT, and to utilize it for further developing versatile MIPs with a wide range of applications (650 references).

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) for magnetic solid-phase extraction of pyrazole/pyrrole pesticides in environmental water samples followed by HPLC-DAD determination

“…Magnetic SPE (MSPE), as a relatively new mode of SPE based on the adsorption and release of target analytes by a small amount of magnetic nanoparticles dispersed in solution, has attracted much interest and attained wide applications [11][12][13][14]. The magnetic nanoparticle-adsorbed target compounds can be easily collected by an external magnetic field without additional centrifugation or filtration of samples [15].…”

Design of a Molecularly Imprinted Stir-Bar for Isolation of Patulin in Apple and LC-MS/MS Detection

“…The selected polymerization technique was bulk polymerization, because it does not require sophisticated instrumentation and the reaction conditions can be easily controlled. Furthermore, it is the most widely used method for the preparation of imprinted polymers [16]. In the design of any pre-polymerization mixture, the selection of the cross-linker and porogen solvent are two key factors, as they would determine the aspect, strength and even the color and porosity of the final polymer.…”

Preparation of Quantum Dots and Fluorescent Molecularly Imprinted Composite Microspheres for Determination of Tyramine

“…Hence it offers the potential of performing multiple targets on a single sample simultaneously [8] . Molecular Imprinting Technology(MIT) is widely used as a mature technique for the synthesis of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) with specific recognition sites [9] . The prepared molecularly imprinted polymers to have wide applicability, good plasticity, stability and high selectivity [10] .…”