Technological innovations in the industry. A proposal for the analysis of environmental contaminants with Molecularly Imprinted Polymers

Innovaciones tecnológicas en la industria. Una propuesta para el análisis de contaminantes ambientales con Polímeros de Impronta Molecular

Abstract

To know the level of contamination of water and soil, through rapid and efficient analysis, technological innovations promote research to reduce the levels of toxic substances and thus contribute to sustainable development. Solid phase extraction (SPE) is a preparative analysis technique used to “clean” the sample prior to quantification and/or concentration of the analyte. The term is due to the fact that the support material used is a solid through which a liquid or gas passes and the analytes are adsorbed and then eluted according to their different affinities between the support material and the mobile phase used. Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) possess selective molecular recognition properties because the recognition sites within the polymer matrix are complementary to the molecule under analysis in the shape and position of the functional groups. They are very sensitive and have high selectivity and affinity for the analyte. The molecular imprinting technique is based on the preparation of a highly cross-linked polymer around an analyte used as a template molecule, initially coming into contact with a suitable monomer and the analyte in order to form a pre-polymerization complex, by which is subsequently added to the crosslinker, the initiator and the solvent also called porogen with which the polymerization is carried out. Once the polymer is obtained, the template molecule is extracted, releasing the specific recognition sites. Solid phase extraction based on molecularly imprinted polymers is a technique frequently used for the analysis of real environmental, food and bioanalytical samples, and is called MISPE (Molecularly Imprinted Solid Phase Extraction). The analysis of a given compound in complex mixtures often requires several pretreatment steps. In this review, some applications of MIPs in combination with SPE for the cleaning and pre-concentration of environmental samples for subsequent analysis are presented.