Ion and Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (IMIP)

Keywords

Smart imprinted polymers, chelating polymers, porous polymers, sensors, extraction, pollutants

Presentation

Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) are synthetic polymers designed to mimic natural biological receptors like antibodies. In the classical non-covalent approach, a template molecule interacts with a functional monomer and a cross-linker in a porogen solvent. After polymerization, the removal of the template generates the recognition cavities inside the three-dimensional copolymer network. Combined with various transduction mechanisms, they are the key stones of a large panel of chemical sensors thanks to their high recognition properties, easy synthesis and high stability. Ion Imprinted Polymers (IIPs) are designed in a similar way for the selective recognition/extraction of ionic templates.
Research activities of MAPIEM laboratory in this field presently include:

• Design of original MIPs including redox probe for the electrochemical sensing of organic micropollutants
• Design of original IIPs including fluorescent probe for the optical sensing of trace metal elements
• Study of the impact of polymerization processes and conditions on the extraction and selectivity properties of IIPs and MIPs