Molecularly imprinted polymers - towards electrochemical sensors and electronic tongues

Abstract

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are artificially synthesized materials to mimic the molecular recognition process of biological macromolecules such as substrate-enzyme or antigen-antibody. The combination of these biomimetic materials with electrochemical techniques has allowed the development of advanced sensing devices, which significantly improve the performance of bare or catalyst-modified sensors, being able to unleash new applications. However, despite the high selectivity that MIPs exhibit, those can still show some cross-response towards other compounds, especially with chemically analogous (bio)molecules. Thus, the combination of MIPs with chemometric methods opens the room for the development of what could be considered a new type of electronic tongues, i.e. sensor array systems, based on its usage. In this direction, this review provides an overview of the more common synthetic approaches, as well as the strategies that can be used to achieve the integration of MIPs and electrochemical sensors, followed by some recent examples over different areas in order to illustrate the potential of such combination in very diverse applications.

Towards Clean and Safe Water: A Review on the Emerging Role of Imprinted Polymer-Based Electrochemical Sensors

“…The paper discusses the combination of chemometrics and MIP technology in view of developing electronic tongues 2021 [23] a IIPs: ion imprinted polymers; b NP: nanoparticle.…”

Carbon Dots: Classification, Properties, Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications in Health Care—An Updated Review (2018–2021)

“…To date, a plethora of nanomaterials such as nano-magnetic beads [1], nanowires [2], nano-molecularly imprinted polymers (nano-MIPs) [3], polymer nanocomposites [4], dendrimers [5], metallic nanoparticles [6], carbon-based nanomaterials [7], and magnetic nanoparticles [8] are being exploited tremendously owing to their marvelous features, and they are efficiently applied in various fields, including photoelectric devices [9], microsuper capacitors [10], solar cells [11], optoelectronics [12], photodynamic therapy [13], photothermal therapy [14], electro-and photo-catalysis [15,16], environmental and food safety [17,18], novel drug delivery systems [19], new drug discovery [20], therapy development [21], theranostics and medical diagnostics [22,23], bioimaging [24], biosensing technology [25], etc. Amidst these nanomaterials, carbon-based nanomaterials are widely studied because of their indisputable prevalence in terms of biocompatibility, non-toxicity, inertness, eco-friendliness, long-term chemical stability, fluorescence properties, high electrical and thermal conductivity, large effective surface area, easy functionalization due to their abundant functional groups, excellent electro-catalytic activity, their ability to readily modify various electrodes during the construction of a wide range of biosensing platforms, etc.…”

“…Nonetheless, several reports have also showed that the CDs can also be significantly bigger in size, i.e., up to 60 nm [45]. The structure of CDs is comprised of sp 2 and sp 3 carbon atoms with large number of polymer chains or functional groups attached on their surfaces [47]. CDs have garnered enormous attraction among researchers, owing to their significant and outstanding characteristics, such as excellent electron conductivity, photobleaching and photo blinking properties, high photoluminescent quantum yield, fluorescence property, resistance to photo-decomposition, alterable excitation and emission attributes, increased electro-catalytic activity, good solubility in aqueous media, excellent biocompatibility, long-term chemical stability, cost-effectiveness, negligible toxicity, and acquaintance of large effective surface area-to-volume ratio [48][49][50][51].…”

Shaping Macromolecules for Sensing Applications—From Polymer Hydrogels to Foldamers

“…The assembled structure is covalently stabilized by a polymerization reaction and the template analyte is removed, leaving a cavity fitted to the analyte. Molecularly imprinted polymers are a subject of several review articles [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ] and are not discussed in this article.…”