Molecular imprinting in sol-gel materials: Recent developments and applications

Since its inception five decades ago, imprinted sol-gel materials went practically unnoticed, until in the 1970s the conceptual introduction of molecular imprinting in synthetic polymers triggered a new interest in this field. The recent growth in interest in organic-inorganic hybrid materials prepared by sol-gel chemistry and the development of a variety of new strategies for imprinting polymeric matrices have led to a growing activity in what became known as molecularly imprinted sol-gel materials. This paper intends to give an overview of recent progress in molecular imprinting in sol-gel matrices, the potential analytical applications of these tailor-made materials and their limitations, with the aim of drawing attention to useful information and to enhancing interest in this practically unexplored but promising field. [Materials include silica and polymeric materials].