Molecular Imprinted Nanocomposites for Green Chemistry

Nanocomposite materials which are considered ‘green’ refer to non-toxic, biodegradable and renewable nanocomposites. The reasons of preferring green nanocomposites much more could be explained by environmental friendly, fully degradability, renewability and sustainability in all respects. Furthermore, the production of green nanocomposites should not be based on toxic chemicals. When their functions are definitely completed, they can be easily destroyed without harming the environment. The challenge with green composites arises from the difficulty of producing green nano-polymers to be applied as matrices in the construction of basic composites. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been extensively synthesized from various functional monomers. In green chemistry principles, elimination of toxic reagents in the analytical process, the use of reagents from a renewable source are performed. To date, there are some publications pointing out the utilization of harmless chemicals for the design of MIPs. It has been a great opportunity that a novel research area has emerged considering the combination of environmentally friendly reagents and traditional organic monomers for MIP synthesis. In this chapter, the recent advances in the field of both green synthesis and green applications by focusing the molecular imprinting technology are summarized, and the developments in green strategies are highlighted