# Application of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers in the Analysis of Waters and Wastewaters
## 5 Application of MIPs for the Detection of Different Classes of Contaminants
### Pharmaceutical Products  
Pharmaceutical drugs and their residues have been found in surface waters, raising concerns about their potential adverse effect on human health if inadvertently ingested through contaminated food and water sources. Pharmaceuticals have predominantly entered ground and surface water through wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents due to their extensive use. Pharmaceutical medications are water soluble and have a high polarity, allowing them to easily evade wastewater treatment facilities. Others undergo incomplete breakdown, and certain degradation products can even be de-conjugated back to their biologically active forms. Table 5 represents examples for the application of MIPs in the determination of pharmaceutical residues in waters and wastewaters. Despite the fact that medications are present in low concentrations in the aquatic environment (ug-ng L\({}^{-1}\)), their residues can produce ecotoxic effects, hormone disturbance, and drug resistance [182]. There are different types of pharmaceuticals that are eligible to be found in wastewater, such as antibiotics, antidepressant, antiretroviral, analgesics, anticonvulsant, antiseptic, non-steroidal inflammatory drugs, and hormones [182; 183]. Antibiotics are shown to present a new class of environmental contaminants that have the potential to damage human and animal health as well as ecosystem survival. The development of bacterial resistance to existing antibiotics as a result of continuous exposure is largely responsible for the rise in awareness of antibiotic pollution in the environment [184]. A sensor based on molecularly imprinted polymer was developed for erythromycincin (Ery) in water samples. Poly(m-phenylene diamine) was electropolymerized on gold screen printed electrode at 0.63 V. The different steps of the MIP preparation were characterized using electrochemical techniques, such as cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Ery-MIP/SPE sensor demonstrates appreciable affinity for Ery and low analytical limits, LOD = 0.1 nM, LOQ = 0.4 nM [184]. Antidepressants, also known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are one of the commonly found pharmaceuticals in the environment. MIPs were applied for extraction of SSRIs in water using methacrylic acid as monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as cross linker, and 2,2\({}^{\prime}\)-azobis(2,4-dimethyl valenoritrile) as initiator. The maximal capacity of MIP for sertraline in water is 72.6 mg g\({}^{-1}\), and the highest imprinting factor is 3.7. High performance liquid chromatograph coupled with a diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) was used for the different detections. Despite the small surface area of the synthesized polymers that ranged between 27.4 and 193.8 m\({}^{2}\) g\({}^{-1}\), as compared to that of the activated carbon at 1400 m\({}^{2}\)g\({}^{-1}\), their sorption capabilities in wastewaters were generally superior [185]. Carbamazepine (CBZ), an antiepileptic and mood-stabilizing medicine used mostly to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder, known for its toxicity, is a developing contaminant in water. MAA-based porous molecularly imprinted polymer was applied for solid phase extraction for selective and preconcentration of carbamazepine (CBZ) from various water samples. This approach was shown to be extremely suited for the quantification of CBZ, with good recovery (87.2-99.4%), low detection limit (82 pg mL\({}^{-1}\)), and reusability of adsorbent [186]. Molecularly imprinted polymers are capable of excellently binding to different classes of pharmaceutical compounds, regardless of their structure or pharmacological activity, and thus, they have high potential to be applied in wastewater treatment planets, unlike traditional adsorption materials, such as clays and carbonaceous adsorbents, which depend mainly on surface or physical adsorption.