Abstract: Ion imprinted polymer is a special kind of polymer with the ability to selectively adsorb the target ion and is prepared by the imprinting technique with imprinting the template ion. The present reports are mostly about the preparation and performance of cation imprinted polymers, but the development of anion imprinted polymers is relatively backward. The reason comes from the more complex structure of anion templates and its smaller ratio of the charge to size, which makes it very difficult to establish a clear recognition site in anion imprinted polymers. In order to guide the preparation and applications of anion imprinted polymers more effectively, the recent status is reviewed. The types of functional monomers (including amino, quaternary ammonium, nitrogen heterocyclic and carboxyl structures) that can adsorb and bind to various common anions are summarized. And the adsorption properties of anion imprinted polymers based on the above monomers are reviewed. Then the preparation methods and synthetic strategies of anion imprinted polymers and their applications in analytical chemistry containing anion electrochemical detection and fluorescence sensing are introduced. Finally, there are still some deficiencies such as unsatisfactory adsorption capacity and rare industrial applications. The future research directions about anion imprinted polymers are also discussed and prospected.

Key words: Anion, Ion imprinted polymer, Functional monomer, Preparation method, Application