Abstract
Materials that can mimic the molecular recognition-based functions found in biology are a significant goal for science and technology. Molecular imprinting is a technology that addresses this challenge by providing polymeric materials with antibody-like recognition characteristics. Recently, significant progress has been achieved in solving many of the practical problems traditionally associated with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), such as difficulties with imprinting of proteins, poor compatibility with aqueous environments, template leakage, and the presence of heterogeneous populations of binding sites in the polymers that contribute to high levels of non-specific binding. This success is closely related to the technology-driven shift in MIP research from traditional bulk polymer formats into the nanomaterial domain. The aim of this article is to throw light on recent developments in this field and to present a critical discussion of the current state of molecular imprinting and its potential in real world applications.
Highlights
Molecular recognition, the ability of systems to selectively recognize and bind complementary molecules present in complex mixtures, is the fundamental basis for all chemical and biological processes
Molecular imprinting has become established as a mature technology with, currently, over 15,000 publications describing molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) synthesis, characterization, and use in a wide range of application areas [3]
A very significant step towards targeted drug delivery can be found in the recent report by the Liu group [177] describing HER2 N-glycan nanoMIPs, which were shown in in vitro studies to inhibit HER2+ cell proliferation
Summary
The ability of systems to selectively recognize and bind complementary molecules present in complex mixtures, is the fundamental basis for all chemical and biological processes. Molecular imprinting has become established as a mature technology with, currently, over 15,000 publications describing MIP synthesis, characterization, and use in a wide range of application areas [3]. The second reason is related to the technological challenges faced by traditional (bulk) molecular imprinting, :. Bulk MIPs always have large numbers of non-specific sites which contribute to the “polyclonal” nature of their binding profiles [12,21,22]. High levels of non-specific binding limit the utility of MIPs in diagnostic, pharmaceutical, and separation applications, except in a limited number of special cases where there is no alternative.
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