ABSTRACT
Molecular imprinting is a modern technique and not quite common. It is a specific enough technique according to which the selective binding/isolation of target species from a mixture can be achieved. The ability to selectively recognize a target molecule in a vast pool of similar molecules is essential to biological and chemical processes. The preparation of molecularly imprinted polymers starts by positioning the functional monomers around a template molecule. The monomers interact with sites on the template via interactions that can be reversibly covalent or noncovalent. Environmental samples have been applied to molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction for the extraction of pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and phenolic compounds. Some of the basic application areas of molecular imprinting include separation processes, artificial antibodies, and sensor recognition elements. The most used techniques are the solid-phase extraction, solid-phase microextraction, stir bar sorptive extraction, matrix solid-phase dispersion, microsolid-phase extraction, and liquid-phase microextraction.
