Artificial Enzymes and Electrochemically Molecularly Imprinted Polymers

Molecular complexes that are inspired from biological enzyme-substrate interactions can be mimicked with the lock-and-key templating process. The use of functional monomers that can be electrochemically polymerized enables the formation of cross-linked polymer films with cavities that enable high binding assays of analytes: chemical and biological. There are a number of methods to improve sensitivity and selectivity in sensors but usually, this requires more elaborate instrumentation methods In this talk, we will show the effective and bio-inspired artificial enzymes for the detection of chemical and biological analytes. We will focus on the<br/>demonstration of electropolymerized molecularly imprinted polymer (E-MIP) sensor elements and their ability to utilize transduction methods such as surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy or quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to enable high sensitivity and selectivity. The monomer and molecular design for optimized analyte interaction enable effective templating protocols in a conducting polymer matrix with tunable oxidative states to enable a high volume of analyte-cavity sites. Optimized electropolymerization methods are important for film deposition and surface characterization.