Functionalized polythiophenes: Recognition materials for chemosensors and biosensors of superior sensitivity, selectivity, and detectability

Recent progress in derivatized polythiophenes (PTs) and polymerized thiophene derivatives is reviewed, with emphasis on applications that involve devising and fabricating selective and sensitive chemo- and biosensors. The literature results summarized show that appreciable selectivity is attained if derivatized polythiophene films are used as recognition units. Illustrative examples include determination of polyatomic anions and metal cations, volatile organic compounds, and biocompounds including glucose and nucleic acids. Moreover, progress is presented in the use of derivatized thiophenes as functional monomers for preparation of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for chemosensing. Thanks to the range of synthetic procedures developed for preparation of derivatized PTs, these electronically conducting polymers have served as excellent recognition units for fabricating highly sensitive and selective chemosensors for target analytes.