Abstract
The increase of the global population and shortage of renewable water resources urges the development of possible remedies to improve the quality and reusability of waste and contaminated water supplies. Different water pollutants, such as heavy metals, dyes, pesticides, endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), and pharmaceuticals, are produced through continuous technical and industrial developments that are emerging with the increasing population. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) represent a class of synthetic receptors that can be produced from different types of polymerization reactions between a target template and functional monomer(s), having functional groups specifically interacting with the template; such interactions can be tailored according to the purpose of designing the polymer and based on the nature of the target compounds. The removal of the template using suitable knocking out agents renders a recognition cavity that can specifically rebind to the target template which is the main mechanism of the applicability of MIPs in electrochemical sensors and as solid phase extraction sorbents. MIPs have unique properties in terms of stability, selectivity, and resistance to acids and bases besides being of low cost and simple to prepare; thus, they are excellent materials to be used for water analysis. The current review represents the different applications of MIPs in the past five years for the detection of different classes of water and wastewater contaminants and possible approaches for future applications.
Highlights
Water is a commodity and a sustained resource for life of all Earth’s organisms, from the simplest to the most complex
Imprinted polymers (MIPs) are synthetic materials produced from different types of polymerization reactions between a cross-linking agent with a complex formed between a template and functional monomer(s) having functional groups interacting with the template through covalent or noncovalent approach
The current review aims at tracking the fundamentals of molecularly imprinted polymers and their recent applications for the sensing, extraction, and determination of major water pollutant, including heavy metals, dyes, pesticides, endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), and pharmaceutical residues in the past five years
Summary
Water is a commodity and a sustained resource for life of all Earth’s organisms, from the simplest to the most complex. Water is used by every animal and plant, starting from photosynthesis of plants going to human’s and animals’ dependency on these plants It is an essential element and has an important role in all biological associations, as it is used by all living organisms for specific and vital purposes [1]. Most pollutants are typically concentrated in parts per billion (micrograms per liter) or parts per trillion (nanograms per liter); many of the reported traditional methods are not efficient or sensitive enough for the removal and detection of pollutants This creates a need for more efficient adsorption and preconcentration approaches. Imprinted polymers (MIPs) are synthetic materials produced from different types of polymerization reactions between a cross-linking agent with a complex formed between a template and functional monomer(s) having functional groups interacting with the template through covalent or noncovalent approach. The development is continuous until the first MIP-based sensor was produced by Piletsky (1992), and is still under way to use polymers in different areas for various applications [7]
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