Templating molecular imprinting

Table 1 Examples of molecules that have been used as templates for molecular imprinting Template molecule Selected Refs.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) can be prepared according to a number of approaches that are different in the way the template is linked to the functional monomer and subsequently to the polymeric binding sites (Fig. 6-1). Thus, the template can be linked and subsequently recognized by virtually any combination of cleavable covalent bonds, metal ion co-ordination or noncovalent bonds. The first example of molecular imprinting of organic network polymers introduced by Wulff was based on a covalent attachment strategy i.e. covalent monomer-template, covalent polymer-template [12]. 

Some restrictions of this molecular imprinting technique are obvious. The template must be available in preparative amounts, it must be soluble in the monomer mixture, and it must be stable and unreactive under the conditions of the polymer-... 

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are of growing interest for their potential biotechnological applications. Recently, the templating processes with living yeast cells were reported107 for the preparation of ordered and... 

FIGURE 1.49 Principle of molecular imprinting.169 1 = functional monomers 2 = cross-linking monomer 3 = molecule whose imprint is desired (molecular template). In (A), 1 and 2 form a complex with 3 and hold it in position in (B), polymerization involving 1 2 occurs and the template (imprint molecule) is held in the polymeric structure in (C) and (D) the imprint molecule is removed leaving a cavity complementary to its size and shape into which a target analyte of similar dimensions can fit. (Reproduced with permission from Taylor Francis.)... 

The concept is extendable to templated sensors made of protein templated xerogels in which a luminescent reporter group is further added in close proximity to the template site so as to effectively transduce the protein-molecularly imprinted polymer binding event (Figure 6.12).11... 

To prepare artificial enzymatic systems possessing molecular recognition ability for particular molecules, molecular imprinting methods that create template-shaped cavities with the memory of the template molecules in polymer matrices, have been developed [22, 30-35] and established in receptor, chromatographical separations, fine-chemical sensing, etc. in the past decade. The molecular... 

Fig. 1. Concept of molecular imprinting - the non-covalent approach. 1. Self-assembly of template with functional monomers. 2. Polymerization in the presence of a cross-linker. 3. Extraction of the template from the imprinted polymer network. 4. Selective recognition of the template molecule...

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