Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for the Recognition of Bimolecules in Water

Artificial receptors that bind peptides and proteins in water are expected to have wide applications in the fields of separation technology, analytical chemistry, and medical science. Although various precisely designed receptors for biomolecules have been reported with the development in host-guest chemistry, the methodologies for synthesizing tailor-made artificial receptors are also required in order to prepare numerous receptors for naturally-occurring molecules. For the simple and tailor-made preparation of receptors, this molecular imprinting method was developed. However, there are only few reports on molecularly imprinted polymers which selectively bind target molecules in water, since conventional ones use hydrogen bonds for the specific recognition of the target molecules. In this review, we summarize recent research on artificial receptors for peptides briefly, and touch upon our new imprinted cyclodextrin polymers which recognize bioactive oligopeptides in water.