New materials for electrochemical sensing IV. Molecular imprinted polymers

Molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs) have become an important tool in the preparation of artificial and robust recognition materials capable of mimicking natural systems. When compared with natural molecular recognition products, such as antibodies, MIPs bring several advantages, such as low-cost, predictable specificity, durability and mass production. An overview of the use of MIPs for the design of electrochemical sensors based on different signal-transduction schemes is presented here. The revised transduction schemes include capacitive, conductometric, voltammetric and potentiometric sensors. The coupling of MIPs with these transducers is still at an early stage. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.