Molecularly imprinted polymers and optical sensing applications

The development of optical sensing approaches for analytes of biological, industrial, or environmental concern has reached an enormous significance. Different natural systems such as enzymes or antibodies have been employed in the development of these kind of sensors, but they often lack of stability. Molecular imprinting has become a universal tool for preparation of artificial and robust recognition materials mimicking natural systems. Molecular imprinting polymers (MIPs) are easily obtained by copolymerization of suitable functional monomers and crosslinkers in the presence of the target molecule. These polymers exhibit a tremendous thermal, chemical, and mechanical stability besides having selectivity similar to that of natural systems. Here we report an overview of molecular imprinting technique focussed to its sensing applications, emphasizing those systems based on an optical transduction.