Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Detection of Herbicides – A Review

M. A. Ansari a*, R.K. Prajapatib
Page No.15-29

Contamination of environment due to indiscriminate use of herbicides poses severe risks soil, water
and air as well as severe risk to human health. So need of easy, rapid and of low cost detection
triggered the researcher to find out new technology. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), the
synthetic materials are very useful in these circumstances. It offers several advantages to the
environmental scientist, chemist, pharmaceutical, and agro food industry for analysis, sensoring,
extraction, or preconcentration of analytes. Since last two decade new types of imprinted polymeric
materials with molecular recognition sites for herbicides have been prepared using the molecular
imprinting approach. In this review paper, the recognition and transport properties of molecularly
imprinted polymer (MIP) membranes prepared for herbicides in particular are summarized and
analyzed. It has been found with micro porous and macro porous MIP membranes that they exhibit
largely different transport phenomenon with same receptor. The nature of selectivity of
microporous MIP membranes and their different methods of preparation is discussed. The high
specificity and stability of MIPs make them as promising alternatives to enzymes, antibodies, and
other natural receptors usually used in affinity chromatography and sensor technology. In general,
these investigations open a way to the design of supramolecular devices that could perform highly
selective functions such as recognition, transformation, transfer, regulation and allow signal and
information processing. The herbicides are used as pesticides, insecticides and chemical war
agents. The high toxicity of herbicides neurotoxins and their large use in modern agriculture
practices has increased public concerns. Here imprinting and detection of herbicide have been
discussed.
Keywords: Herbicides, Molecularly Imprinted polymers, affinity chromatography, Bio membrane,
supramolecular devices, Sensor.