This is an approach to design polymers that recognize materials which may be of biological origin. Their advantage is their high selectivity and affinity for the target molecule. The high level view of the process to create such a polymer is relatively simple though the devil may be in the details. In the presence of the template (biological entity) the polymer is polymerized from monomer, cross-linking agent and initiator. It is expected that the template is surrrounded by monomers and the interactions with the template and monomers would be fixed in space through molecular interactions. When the template is removed the “holes” left behind will be open to binding of the polymer dimensional complex shape.
How are they tested? That part is hard since the goal is to test rebinding. One method is using it through chromatographic techniques and making the newly created polymer a stationary phase. However, it is possible that the pores that are created are non-specific to the ligand/target molecule so additional testing is required to check for specificity of binding in comparison to related molecules. One area this has been used in is to develop binders of nucleoside derivates with a zinc phthalocyanine which lead to specific binding of RNA nucleoside.
A critical factor to consider is the presence of water. Biological templates usually need water for their activity and structure and a polymer may interact with water, instead of the template, thus degrading the performance of the the polymer.
The application of this technology has usually been in separation or chromatographic separation of specific molecules, or separation of the raecemic isomer. More recently the use of this technology has been as sensors to detect specific molecules. The sensing is done by the polymer that is bound as a thin film to the transducer platform. Some examples of sensors are for atropine, sorbitol, paracetamol using bulk acoustic wave sensor technology.
The key advantage might be the ability to store the sensor for several years without losing its activity. However, a key advantage might be for catalysis and drug delivery and this will need to be explored further.
