Challenges in the Template Removal from the Molecularly Imprinted Polymer

The primary aim of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) applications is to enhance selectivity in electrochemical measurements. Such polymers, in some cases, are called ‘plastic antibodies’ for their molecular recognition abilities comparable to natural antibodies [1]. The MIP preparation process involves several key steps, including the polymerisation of selected functional monomers (and crosslinkers in some cases) in the presence of the template molecule, which is expected to be removed after MIP preparation [2,3]. The simplicity of the MIP preparation process hides several pitfalls that can easily compromise the MIP's efficiency. One of these pitfalls might appear in the removal process of template molecules.
This presentation aims to discuss the challenges associated with removing the proteins as template molecules from MIPs [4].
We highlight five chemical treatment approaches for removing protein templates. These chemical treatment approaches include (i) chaotropic agents, (ii) salt, (iii) acidic cleavage, (iv) alkaline, and finally, (v) proteolytic treatment.

Acknowledgments
This project has received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), agreement No. S-LL-25-3.

References
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[2] Pilvenyte, G., Ratautaite, V., Boguzaite, R., Ramanavicius, A., Viter, R., Ramanavicius, S. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24(4) (2023) 4105. 10.3390/ijms24044105
[3] Mohsenzadeh, E., Ratautaite, V., Brazys, E., Ramanavicius, S., Zukauskas, S., Plausinaitis, D., Ramanavicius, A. WIREs Computational Molecular Science 14(3) (2024) e1713. 10.1002/wcms.1713
[4] Brazys, E., Ratautaite, V., Mohsenzadeh, E., Boguzaite, R., Ramanaviciute, A., Ramanavicius, A. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science 337 (2025) 103386. 10.1016/j.cis.2024.103386