Application of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer as a versatile and highly selective tool in food and environmental analysis: Recent developments and trends

Recently, combination of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) with additional features, e.g. magnetic properties, has led to good results. Compared with conventional MIPs, magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) have attracted considerable attentions attributing to the fact that they not only exhibit outstanding magnetism but also have specific selective binding for template molecules. However, use of MMIPs still faces challenges such as slow mass transfer, low binding capacity, and template leakage. In this article, we review several novel applications of MMIP-based approaches that were applied to food and environmental sample analysis and can overcome these problems. We discuss on brief descriptions of advantages/disadvantages and how these methods could improve the extraction and absorption process for a variety of analytes. Also, we compare each novel magnetic extraction technique with earlier studies in analytical parameters. Finally, some of the future MMIPs-based perspectives will be given.