Molecular imprinting and its applications

Molecular imprinting is a new effective separation technique featuring selective recognition.Fundamental principle of the covalent and non-covalent approach is described.Different methods for preparing molecular imprinting polymers including conventional method,dispersion polymerization,suspension polymerization and surface imprinting are reviewed.Molecular imprinting polymers have been applied in many fields which include the use of it as tailor-made separation materials,antibody and receptor binding site mimics in recognition and assay systems,solid phase extraction and as recognition elements in biosensors.Problems existing in molecular imprinting technique are pointed out also.