Molecular Imprinting

Our senses of smell and taste are able to recognise molecules selectively, to the point where they can even discriminate between different chiral states. This property, called molecular recognition, is essential to all forms of life [1]. It is based on the principle of a specific interaction between a receptor or host and a target molecule, which will be identified among a multitude of others, then selectively adsorbed. If the host is endowed with reactive functions, the attached molecule may be transported or transformed. Enzymes are the archetypal host molecules exploiting the idea of molecular recognition. Their complexation sites comprise a hydrophobic pocket with definite shape within which amino acid residues are located in a precisely defined way. The combined effect of these different characteristics underlies not only the affinity for some specific substrate, but also the transformation of this substrate into the desired product [2]. In fact, the phenomena actually brought into play are much more involved, being made up of an ensemble of physicochemical events that act together in a cooperative way, either simultaneously or sequentially, and in which the molecular processes are difficult to follow in detail.