Biomimetic Sensors to Detect Bioanalytes in Real-Life Samples Using Molecularly Imprinted Polymers: A Review

• Main Authors: Birgit Bräuer, Christine Unger, Martin Werner, Peter A. Lieberzeit
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-08-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: molecularly imprinted polymers; biomimetic sensing; real-life matrices; diagnostic applications; environmental sensing; food safety
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/16/5550

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) come with the promise to be highly versatile, useful artificial receptors for sensing a wide variety of analytes. Despite a very large body of literature on imprinting, the number of papers addressing real-life biological samples and analytes is somewhat limited. Furthermore, the topic of MIP-based sensor design is still, rather, in the research stage and lacks wide-spread commercialization. This review summarizes recent advances of MIP-based sensors targeting biological species. It covers systems that are potentially interesting in medical applications/diagnostics, in detecting illicit substances, environmental analysis, and in the quality control of food. The main emphasis is placed on work that demonstrates application in real-life matrices, including those that are diluted in a reasonable manner. Hence, it does not restrict itself to the transducer type, but focusses on both materials and analytical tasks.