Molecular imprinting technique and its application in food sample analysis

Molecular imprinting is an emerging technology for the synthesis of polymeric materials which have specific recognition sites complementary to the target molecule. In the recent few years, molecularly imprinted polymers are considered as the selective sorbents in detection, analytical processes and also drug delivery. There are some conventional methods commonly used in the components separation/recognition (i.e. qualitative or quantitative analysis in food and drugs industry) in natural or synthetic samples, however, there are some drawbacks, especially in complex samples, that limit the application of these methods. Recently, the use of molecular imprinted polymer due to high specific recognition, reliability and reusability, is growing rapidly and the technique has been successfully applied in various fields, ranging from food science, pharmaceutical, environmental science, arms industry and different sensors. It is also used to extract drugs, sugars, amino acids, toxins, pesticides and warfare agents. Although imprinted polymers have unique properties and can be easily prepared, the technique is still new to Iranian researchers, especially in food science field, and to improve and commercialize the technique, further attention and research is needed. In this paper, the concept of molecular imprinting, synthesis and analysis approaches and its application in food sample analysis were comprehensively reviewed.