Polymers for Luminescent Sensing Applications

Polymers are widely used for chemical sensing applications, as a receptor or as a signal transducer. Fluorescent conjugated polymers (CPs) are extensively studied for signaling. Water-soluble CPs are particularly attractive due to their potential sensing applications in environmental and biorelated fields. The CPs by themselves do not provide specific binding sites by folding into secondary or tertiary structures. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are artificial receptors fabricated using the molecular-imprinting technique. They contain in-built information about the shape and functionality of specific potential analytes. However, most MIPs do not have optical-signaling properties. In this article, the recent developments regarding luminescent polymeric sensors are briefly summarized. It will be of great interest if the optical-signal properties of CPs and the selectivity of MIPs are integrated in an advanced polymeric sensor.