Electrosynthesized molecularly imprinted polymers for protein recognition

• A broad compilation of electrosynthesised MIPs for protein recognition is given.
• MIPs for 15 different monomeric and oligomeric proteins are presented.
• Strategies for the electrosynthesis of protein-imprinted polymers are presented.
• Electrosynthesis enables in situ preparation of MIP on various transducers.
• Protein MIPs will have to benefit from hybrid architectures and high throughput methods.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for the recognition of proteins are expected to possess high affinity through the establishment of multiple interactions between the polymer matrix and the large number of functional groups of the target. However, while highly affine recognition sites need building blocks rich in complementary functionalities to their target, such units are likely to generate high levels of non-specific binding. This paradox, that nature solved by evolution for biological receptors, needs to be addressed by the implementation of new concepts in molecular imprinting of proteins. Additionally, the structural variability, large size and incompatibility with a range of monomers made the development of protein MIPs to take a slow start. While the majority of MIP preparation methods are variants of chemical polymerization, the polymerization of electroactive functional monomers emerged as a particularly advantageous approach for chemical sensing application. Electropolymerization can be performed from aqueous solutions to preserve the natural conformation of the protein templates, with high spatial resolution and electrochemical control of the polymerization process. This review compiles the latest results, identifying major trends and providing an outlook on the perspectives of electrosynthesised protein-imprinted MIPs for chemical sensing.