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Over the last decades, an increasing demand for new specific molecular recognition elements has emerged in order to improve analytical methods that have already been developed in order to reach the detection/quantification limits of target molecules. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have molecular recognition abilities provided by the presence of a template molecule during their synthesis, and they are excellent materials with high selectivity for sample preparation. These synthetic polymers are relatively easy to prepare, and they can also be an excellent choice in the substitution of antibodies or enzymes in different kinds of assays. They have been properly applied to the development of chromatographic or solid-phase extraction methods and have also been successfully applied as electrochemical, piezoelectrical, and optical sensors, as well as in the catalysis process. Nevertheless, new formats of polymerization can also provide new applications for these materials. This paper provides a comprehensive comparison of the new challenges in molecular imprinting as materials of the future in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A monitoring program was developed for the environmental analysis of four phenols and three phenoxyacid herbicides in natural surface and ground water samples from the vineyard region of La Rioja (Spain). An analytical method based on molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction was developed for the determination of the impact of these compounds on the quality of environmental water samples. Different parameters were evaluated and optimized to achieve limits of detection in the 20-90 ng L(-1) range for both surface and ground water, with relative standard deviations in the 12-18% range. A comparative study of the behavior of the imprinted polymer compared with traditional sorbents (C18 and Oasis HLB) in the analysis of river water was performed. The results revealed that bisphenol-A is the most ubiquitous compound (present in more than 50% of the samples), with values up to 0.72 μg L(-1). Bisphenol-F was also detected in several samples (33% of the samples), although in concentration lower than Bisphenol-A. The herbicide 2,4-D was frequently detected in water samples (present in 33% of the samples), with concentrations above 0.1 μg L(-1) in two samples., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)