Novel developments and trends of analytical methods for drug analysis in biological and environmental samples by molecularly imprinted polymers

Because of the low concentration levels in plasma, blood, urine, and other metabolites, adequate analytical methods should be used for quantification of drugs at the trace levels. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are tailor made and stable polymers with special molecular recognition abilities that because of their high selectivity can be used for the extraction of selected target analytes and structurally related analogues in many bioanalytical approaches. Nowadays, MIPs are rapidly progressing for the analysis of drugs in biological, environmental, and pharmaceutical samples. In this review, we discuss the novel developments and uses of MIPs as new sorbents and fibers in solid phase extraction (SPE) and solid phase microextraction (SPME), ultrasonic-assisted SPE, sensitive sensors, magnetic separations or conjugating with carbon materials for trace and ultra-trace determination of drugs. We believe that our review will be of assistance to drug analysis and analytical methods with highly selective separations/detections.