Tailor-made materials for tailor-made applications: application of molecular imprints in chemical analysis

The development of new selective analytical methods and sample enrichment techniques remains of interest. The implementation of molecular imprints in chemical analysis may offer advantages over existing methodologies. Criteria for the applicability of molecular imprints in separation methods, ligand-binding assays, sample pre-treatment and sensors are defined. Each analytical problem requires imprints with specific characteristics. Affinities can be comparable with those observed for antigen-antibody interactions, which enables application in ligand-binding assays and for sensors. However, for application in separation methods, moderate affinities, allowing fast mass transfer between the mobile and stationary phase, are essential to obtain highly efficient separations. For sample pre-treatment procedures a large range of affinities can be used; however, large sample volumes can only be processed with high affinity materials. The sample pretreatment application directed to preconcentration leaks the mast promising. It is anticipated that molecular imprints will find a prominent place in pharmaceutical research, not only as a tool to improve selectivity and sensitivity in analytical methods but also for selective extraction of drugs or intermediates from reaction media. In an environmental context these imprints may be used for the analysis and/or removal of pollutants. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.