Title:Molecularly Imprinted Polymers’ Applications: A Short Review
Volume: 10
Issue: 4
Author(s): Paulina Szatkowska, Marcin Koba*, Piotr Koslinski and Michal Szablewski
Affiliation:
- Department of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Collegium Medicum of Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bydgoszcz,Poland
Keywords:
Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP), Molecularly Imprinted Membrane (MIM), pharmaceutical analysis,
toxicological analysis.
Abstract: Linus Pauling has assumed that certain molecules such as functional monomers make self-organized structures
around another particle called a molecular template or stamp. Although this theory has proved to be wrong in terms suggested
by Pauling, it became the basis for the synthesis of entirely new materials named molecularly imprinted polymers
(MIPs) which entered with great dynamics in the world of science in the early 90s of the last century and gradually gaining
more and more popularity. These materials are created by using molecular imprinting techniques, providing selective
binding property of the spaces within the polymer molecule of a substance used as a “molecular stamp”. The versatility of
the process of synthesizing certain molecules on these materials (which can be drugs, pesticides, carbohydrates, nucleotides,
proteins) according to simple modification properties obtained a matrix, by selecting the appropriate functional
monomer and process conditions. These fillers provide very selective recognition and differentiation of the enantiomers
which are particularly useful in medicinal chemistry. For that reason, they find application in almost every area of life,
where the chemical analysis is required. MIPs, due to their compatibility to highly complex matrices, are often used for
pharmaceutical and biological estimations. In environmental analysis, MIPs are utilized to detect trace amounts of substances,
while used in bromatological and toxicological studies as a useful tool in monitoring norms of dangerous and undesirable
chemicals. Hence, the article is a review of the current considerations on the preparation and application of MIPs
as well as molecularly imprinted membranes (MIM).