Molecular imprinting: Synthetic materials as substitutes for biological antibodies and receptors

Molecular imprinting is a versatile technique providing functional materials able to recognize and in some cases respond to biological and chemical agents of interest. In contrast to biological antibodies, the best known receptors derived from biological combinatorial processes, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are obtained by template-directed synthesis. Thus, molecular imprinting can more properly be characterized as a "rational design" approach, allowing research and application problems to be solved. Using simple molecular building blocks, material chemists can now produce tailored synthetic materials of much improved stabilities able to replace or complement natural receptors.