Molecularly Imprinted Metal–Organic Frameworks

Abstract

The selectivity and sensitivity of an analytical instrument have a direct impact on the limit of detection (LOD), which is of utmost importance in analytical science. Interestingly, enhancing the interaction between sorbent materials and target compounds helps in achieving lower LODs of the instrument and this has led to the development of novel sorbent materials. The functionalization of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) has been exploited mostly for applications in sensor fabrication and sample preparation to detect and quantify the target chemical and biological entities in food samples, environmental water, and biological samples (urine, serum, blood, etc.). The increased attention of researchers to MIPs based on MOFs in various analytical applications can be ascribed to their combined properties such as large surface area, excellent porosity, and significant thermal stability. This chapter presents an introduction to molecularly imprinted MOFs (MI-MOFs), their advantages, and their preparation techniques and a brief summary of various applications as they have been widely reported in the literature.