Fundamentals of Molecular Imprinting

A continuous research work on membrane properties and fundamental aspects of transport phenomena in the various membrane operations is important for the fumre of membrane science and technology. There is a need for both basic and applied research to develop new membranes with improved properties and new membrane processes. These research efforts must take into account the studies done in other areas such as supramolecular chemistry, molecular imprints materials, nanotechnology, nonlinear optics, studies on biological membranes and biological phenomena, etc. 

Molecular imprinting technologies have found a niche in separation science. MIPs offer a good alternative to proteinaceous receptors and have been successfully used in affinity-based separations. Furthermore, the polymeric nature of the MIPs bears attractive features for applications that could not be achieved by antibodies or enzymes gas chromatography, solid-phase microextraction, etc. As further fundamental research and apphcation efforts are invested in MIP technologies, it is expected that MIPs will soon be commercialized. MIP-SPE is expected to the first commercial application area. 

Sellergren, B. Hall, A.J. Fundamental aspects on the synthesis and characterization of imprinted network polymers. In Molecularly Imprinted Polymers. Elsevier Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2001 p. 21. 

Many attempts have been made to understand and quantify the fundamental physical basis for molecular recognition, i.e., why two molecules do or do not interact, (Fig. 1). As the imprinting process is a direct consequence of molecular recognition events, i.e., template-monomer interaction, insights into the fundamental physical basis for molecular recognition should prove useful. 

These phase inversion processes can be applied for molecular imprinting, i.e., the solidification of an existing polymer is used instead of an in situ polymerization. Similar work had been reported before for bulk materials [15,16]. Fundamental investigations towards this alternative imprinting , with the preparation of MIP... 

Molecular imprinting offers the intriguing possibility of offering the synthetic chemist the opportunity to perform selective reactions in highly defined stereochemical environments. As MIPs can be designed to perform almost any chemical task and are inherently stable, their use in industrial processes would be especially interesting. From a more fundamental perspective, there is also the drive to create artificial materials that can truly function as enzyme mimics. This section will focus on a few of the more prominent examples of the use of MIPs in synthesis and catalysis." The first reports of MIPs employed in chemical synthesis came from Damen and Neckers and were followed by... 

The book is divided into five sections starting with a historical perspective and fundamental aspects on the synthesis and recognition by imprinted polymers. The second section contains eight up-to-date overview chapters on current approaches to molecular and ion imprinting. This is followed by two chapters on new material morphologies and, in the last two sections, various analytical applications of imprinted polymers are given, with the last four chapters devoted to the promising field of imprinted polymers in chemical sensors. 

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