Plastic Receptors Developed by Imprinting Technology as Smart Polymers Imitating Natural Behavior

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) have attracted considerable attention as smart materials so far. They are known to be capable of imitating the recognition event that happens biologically in living organisms and, in this light, they have noteworthy been used as substitutes of natural receptors. Traditionally, imprinted polymers have been developed by bulk free radical polymerization (FRP), obtaining rigid polymers, which are lately ground to get fine particles. Bulk synthesis of imprinted polymers was substituted by other polymerization approaches in order to overcome typical drawbacks associated with bulk MIPs. Recently, new polymer syntheses have emerged such as solid phase imprinting which have allowed for obtaining smart materials with higher affinity for the target ligand, achieving binding affinities similar or even higher than natural receptors. Materials obtained this way are known as plastic antibodies. This chapter focuses on recent advances on imprinted polymers as potential substitutes of natural receptors, emphasizing on new synthesis strategies and novel imprinted nanomaterials.