Themed collection New era in advanced functional materials emerging from molecular imprinting and related techniques

Professor Karsten Haupt, Professor Toshifumi Takeuchi and Professor Guoping Chen introduce the Journal of Materials Chemistry B themed issue on a New era in advanced functional materials emerging from molecular imprinting and related techniques.

Molecularly imprinted materials are uniquely suited for glycan recognition. Biologically competitive binding and selective hydrolysis of glycans are achieved through innovation in imprinting techniques and postmodification of the imprinted sites.

Recent advances in the preparation of high-performance artificial enzymes based on MIPs and molecularly imprinted nanozymes.

This review summarized the recent advances of protein imprinted polymers (PIPs) focused on the imprinting methods and highlighted applications.

A multi-site recognition MIP fiber for cross-class EED enrichment.

An organic transistor functionalized with a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) succeeded in the highly selective detection of chiral tropane alkaloids owing to the optimized internal molecular recognition sites in the MIP.

Culturing adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) on the biomimetic ADSC-imprinted substrate is a simple way for long-term maintenance of their stemness and proliferation potential.

NanoMIPs developed for three Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMs) are applied to an SPR sensor for <nM level serum detection.

Specificity of molecular recognition for a protein, cytochrome c, by MIP hydrogels through optimization of the preparation and adsorption protocols.

Gold-nanoparticle-incorporated molecularly imprinted nanogels acquire stealth capabilities in vivo through protein corona regulation using intrinsic dysopsonic proteins. The composite can be used in radiation therapy to treat mouse pancreatic cancer.

We fabricated microfluidic dispensing devices, which can give the solution of different flow rates, successfully acquiring multivariate data on the adsorption capacity for protein imprinting hydrogels.

A molecularly imprinted nanocavity that binds to antibiotics and wherein successful binding is indicated by a change in fluorescence, which can detect not only antibiotics in aqueous media of various pH values, but also in meat extract samples.

Molecularly imprinted polymer nanogels (MIPs) as synthetic antibody mimics against the HAVDI epitope of N-cadherin specifically inhibit cell–cell aggregation and tumor cell invasiveness by blocking cadherin-mediated interactions.

The detection and elimination of antibiotic contaminants, such as oxytetracycline (OTC), a broad-spectrum tetracycline antibiotic, would be of help in efficient environmental monitoring, agriculture and food safety tests.

Single monomer Virtual screening vs. Multi-monomer simultaneous docking for combinatorial screening and synthesis.

A strong region-specific interaction between ubiquitin and polydopamine was disclosed and employed to construct surface-imprinted magnetic nanoparticles for the enrichment of ubiquitin and ubiquitinated proteins from complex biological samples.

Thermoresponsive hydrogels with a controlled drug binding capacity were designed to create drug reservoirs capable of both inhibiting drug leakage below the transition temperature and accelerating drug release above it.

An easy one-step method for the encapsulation of proteins into liposomes based on freeze–thawing a protein–liposome complex was developed for efficient protein delivery.

Benefiting from the synergistic effect of dull template imprinting and electrostatic interaction, the artificial antibody can capture exosomes from biofluids.

Nanomechanical AFM and Raman-Microscopy data give evidence that surface imprinting of bacteria leads to chemical differences in cavities caused by different species. This experimentally corroborates a fundamental assumption of molecular imprinting.

A fluorescence assay is designed to detect β-Lg in food samples based on WS₂ nanosheets and a fluorescent dye (FAM)-labeled β-Lg aptamer.

Epitope mapping and nanoMIP development lead to materials that modulate enzyme activity and promote reactivation after antagonist exposure.

Molecularly imprinted wax (MIW) spheres were successfully prepared using wax as the matrix. Due to their phase-change merits at relatively low temperatures and excellent solubility in n-hexane, MIW spheres realized an elution-free SPE process.

Rabbit IgG-imprinted nanopolymers were prepared by solid phase synthesis. Five different cross-linkers were used, evaluating the binding properties. The molecular structure of cross-linker influences of nanopolymer selectivity towards other proteins.

Au nanoparticle-containing fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer microspheres with high folic acid optosensing selectivity and sensitivity in the undiluted urine samples are first developed by combining RAFT polymerization and Au–thiol chemistry.

Novel multi-stimuli responsive molecularly imprinted polymers for the specific recognition and enrichment of serum albumin from complex blood samples.

A strategy called affinity gathering-enhanced coupling and thermal cycling amplification is reported for designing enzyme-mimicking molecularly imprinted polymers. It is verified with mesoporous silica nanoparticles capable of ligating short ssDNA.

An electrochemical chemosensor for cilostazol (CIL) determination was devised, engineered, and tested.

A simple, sensitive, and straightforward method is developed to study the process of molecular imprinting via real-time fluorescence measurements. The imprinted polymer can be used to remove ARS from water, and as a fluorescent probe to detect Cu²⁺.