Application of molecularly imprinted polymers in recognition and detection of environmental oestrogens: a review

Environmental context Environmental oestrogens are a type of endocrine disruptor; their variety, wide range of sources and long-term accumulation in the environment seriously harm the environment ecology and human health. The specific identification, adsorption and detection of environmental oestrogens in the environment, food and drugs is of great significance. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have high stability under harsh chemical and physical conditions and involve simple preparation and low cost, which leads to great potential for practical applications. We summarise and discuss recent research advances and future developments of MIP-based monitoring technologies for environmental oestrogens. Abstract The growing persistence of environmental oestrogenic pollutants is a worrying concern because of their endocrine disrupting activities and potentially hazardous consequences on environmental matrices, ecology and human health. The long-term persistence of environmental oestrogens leads to their accumulation in the environment and organisms, which in turn reach humans through the food chain pathway. Chronic exposure to environmental oestrogens causes several serious health problems, such as infertility and breast cancer, and affects the development of children’s reproductive system, which illustrates the importance of monitoring and removing environmental oestrogens from the environment. The use of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for that purpose has acquired a lot of traction in recent years. MIPs are artificial antibodies with selective recognition cavities for specifically targeted substances. They are created using a variety of imprinted polymerisation methods and employed in various pretreatment techniques and numerous types of sensors to be used in a wide range of applications. In this review, we introduce different production methods of MIPs and various analytical strategies for the detection and analysis of environmental oestrogens using MIPs, such as HPLC, electrochemical and optical sensors. Finally, the advantages and limitations of various MIP-based analytical techniques are compared, and the expected future trends and future developments are discussed.