The detection of specific proteins as biomarkers of disease, health status, environmental monitoring, food quality, control of fermenters and civil defence purposes means that biosensors for these targets will become increasingly more important. Among the technologies used for building specific recognition properties, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are attracting much attention. In this critical review we describe many methods used for imprinting recognition for protein targets in polymers and their incorporation with a number of transducer platforms with the aim of identifying the most promising approaches for the preparation of MIP-based protein sensors (277 references).

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The rational development of molecularly imprinted polymer-based sensors for protein detection.

Herein, we present a survey of the literature covering the development of molecular imprinting science and technology over the years 2004-2011. In total, 3779 references to the original papers, rev ...

Molecular imprinting science and technology: a survey of the literature for the years 2004-2011.

During the last years, artificial nanostructured materials attracted increasing scientific interest due to some remarkable properties such as high surface-to-volume ratio, low cost and straightforward preparation and handling. Among others, such materials show high potential for highly selective recognition in different fields of Analytical Chemistry, such as chemical sensor design. Carrying forward the approach of molecular imprinting from bulk/thin film to nanoparticles is one possible way to actually achieve that goal. Recent years have hence seen substantial increase in the number of MIP nanoparticle publications. This review gives a detailed overview of established precipitation and microemulsion methods for synthesising molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) nanoparticles (NPs) as well as giving an outlook on improving those by “living” polymerisation techniques to achieve controlled geometry and thickness as well as post-synthesis functionalisation. Besides these techniques, novel solid-phase imprinting approaches have recently emerged that show high potential for automatically synthesising MIP NP and transferring the protocols to large-scale production at reduced costs. In terms of sensor application, MIP NPs lead to appreciable sensitivity and selectivity. Moreover, nano-composite materials can be tailored to include additional functionality such as magnetic and semi-conductive cores. Within optical sensors, implementation of quantum dots (QDs) as optosensing material with a MIP shell even allows for fluorescence detection of non-optically active analytes. Sensitivity can be substantially improved by introducing Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS), which have recently been successfully combined with MIP NPs and are promising chemical and biological sensors. Finally, MIP NPs have also proven very useful as plastic antibodies in pseudo-immunoassays.

Molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles in chemical sensing – Synthesis, characterisation and application

http://csmres.co.uk/cs.public.upd/article-downloads/Allyn-Download-4.pdf

Critical review and perspective of macromolecularly imprinted polymers.

This review highlights the importance of coupling molecular imprinting technology with methodology based on electrochemical techniques for the development of advanced sensing devices. In recent years, growing interest in molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) in the preparation of recognition elements has led researchers to design novel formats for improvement of MIP sensors. Among possible approaches proposed in the literature on this topic, we will focus on the electrosynthesis of MIPs and on less common hybrid technology (e.g. based on electrochemistry and classical MIPs, or nanotechnology). Starting from the early work reported in this field, an overview of the most innovative and successful examples will be reviewed.

MIP sensors – the electrochemical approach

Hierarchically nanostructured materials that combine two or more levels of structuring and that exhibit a combination of useful features have gained considerable interest over recent years. Here, the generation of surface-bound nanofilaments with a high aspect ratio by nanomolding on a nanoporous template surface is described. The filaments, at the same time, carry molecularly imprinted binding sites. The dye fluorescein and the protein myoglobin are used as model templates for imprinting. The surfaces exhibit specific binding as revealed by fluorescence microscopy. The wetting properties of the surfaces depend on the dimensions of the nanofilaments and on the nature of the polymer. It is believed that these materials can potentially be useful for applications in biosensors and biochips.

Polymer Films Composed of Surface-Bound Nanofilaments with a High Aspect Ratio, Molecularly Imprinted with Small Molecules and Proteins

Hierarchically Nanostructured Polymer Films Based on Molecularly Imprinted Surface-Bound Nanofilaments

Hierarchically nanostructured materials that combine two or more levels of structure and exhibit a combination of useful features have gained considerable interest. We describe the generation of surface-bound nanofilaments by nanomoulding on a nanoporous template surface that carry at the same time molecularly imprinted binding sites. Fluorescein was used as a model template for imprinting. The surfaces exhibited specific binding of fluorescein as revealed by fluorescence microscopy. Contact angle and ESEM measurements revealed that surface wetting properties are fine-tunable depending on the polymer and on the nanostructuring. We believe that these materials can potentially be very useful for applications such as biosensors and biochips.

Jacques Pantigny

Papers

Polymer Films Composed of Surface-Bound Nanofilaments with a High Aspect Ratio, Molecularly Imprinted with Small Molecules and Proteins

Hierarchically Nanostructured Polymer Films Based on Molecularly Imprinted Surface-Bound Nanofilaments

Nanostructured molecularly imprinted polymer films as synthetic recognition layers