Advances in Detection of Antibiotic Pollutants in Aqueous Media Using Molecular Imprinting Technique—A Review

Antibiotics constitute one of the emerging categories of persistent organic pollutants, characterised by their expansion of resistant pathogens. Antibiotic pollutants create a major public health challenge, with already identifiable detrimental effects on human and animal health. A fundamental aspect of controlling and preventing the spread of pollutants is the continuous screening and monitoring of environmental samples. Molecular imprinting is a state-of-the-art technique for designing robust biomimetic receptors called molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), which mimic natural biomolecules in target-selective recognition. When integrated with an appropriate sensor transducer, MIP demonstrates a potential for the needed environmental monitoring, thus justifying the observed rise in interest in this field of research. This review examines scientific interventions within the last decade on the determination of antibiotic water pollutants using MIP receptors interfaced with label-free sensing platforms, with an expanded focus on optical, piezoelectric, and electrochemical systems. Following these, the review evaluates the analytical performance of outstanding MIP-based sensors for environmentally significant antibiotics, while highlighting the importance of computational chemistry in functional monomer selection and the strategies for signal amplification and performance improvement. Lastly, the review points out the future trends in antibiotic MIP research, as it transits from a proof of concept to the much demanded commercially available entity.