Frontiers in ion imprinting of alkali- and alkaline-earth metal ions – Recent advancements and application to environmental, food and biomedical analysis

Detection and determination of s-block metal ions are crucial for medical diagnosis, clinical toxicology, environmental safety and energy generation/conversion, but complex matrices such as body fluids or environmental samples and the presence of coexisting ions hamper analysis. Ion-imprinted polymers could be a good choice for selective materials in effective extraction of targeted ions. This review focuses on the description of ion-imprinting synthetic approaches that follow after a brief introduction to the coordination polymers network. The application of s-block metal ion-imprinted materials for environmental, food and biomedical purposes is discussed (with reference to recent papers) prior to identification of frontiers in the design of polymers imprinted by s-block metal ions. Finally, a summary and future perspectives are presented, indicating a research direction for further development of the field.