Advances in the development of molecularly imprinted polymers for the separation and analysis of proteins with liquid chromatography

Abstract This review documents recent advances in the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of molecularly imprinted polymers in the form of monoliths and particles/beads for the use in the separation and analysis of proteins with solid‐phase extraction or liquid chromatography. The merits of three‐dimensional molecular imprinting, whereby the molecular template is randomly embedded in the polymer, and two‐dimensional imprinting, in which the template is confined to the surface, are described. Target protein binding can be achieved by either using the entire protein as a template or by using a protein substructure as template, that is, a peptide, as in the "epitope" approach. The intended approach and strategy then determine the choice of polymerization method. A synopsis has been provided on methods used for the physical, chemical, and functional characterizations and associated performance evaluations of molecularly imprinted and nonimprinted control polymers, involving a diverse range of analytical techniques commonly used for low and high molecular mass analytes. Examples of recent applications demonstrate that, due to the versatility of imprinting methods, molecularly imprinted monoliths or particles/beads can be adapted to protein extraction/depletion and separation procedures relevant to, for example, protein biomarker detection and quantification in biomedical diagnostics and targeted proteomics.