Molecular Imprinting: Principles and Applications of Micro- and Nanostructure Polymers

Molecular imprinting is one of the most efficient methods to fabricate functional polymer structures with pre-defined molecular recognition selectivity. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been used as antibody and enzyme mimics in a large number of applications. The outstanding stability and straightforward preparation make MIPs ideal substitutes for biologically derived molecular recognition materials, especially for development of affinity separation systems, chemical sensors and high selectivity catalysts. New MIP materials are being increasingly applied to solve challenging problems in environmental sciences, food safety control, biotechnology and medical diagnostics. Development in molecular imprinting research over the past decade has enabled tailor-designed molecular recognition sites to be created in synthetic materials with physical dimensions in the micro- and nano-regime. The new breakthroughs in MIP synthesis/fabrication have brought in many unprecedented functions of the micro- and nano-structured polymers. The aim of this review volume is to introduce to the readers the new developments in molecularly imprinted micro- and nano-structures, and the new applications that have been made possible with the new generation of imprinted materials.