Enzyme-Mimics Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Based on Metal Complexes: Electropolymerization and Electrocatalytic Application

The development of an electrosynthesized molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) based on a metal complex is here reported as an effective strategy for combining advantages coming from metal-ion coordination and catalytic capabilities of metallic centers with ones deriving from electropolymerization. Metal ion coordination combines the flexibility of noncovalent imprinting approaches with the strength and specificity of covalent ones representing an attractive binding mechanism in MIP design for the recognition of a vast array of analytes. In addition, such a MIP possesses catalytic properties other than recognition capability, which is not so common in MIP field. On the other hand, electropolymerization represents a highly successful way of easily anchoring MIP-based sensing layers to the transducer surface. Procedures for MIP electrosynthesis as well as for its analytical application in electrocatalytic sensing are described.