| Abstract: | Determination of trace levels of compounds in agri‐foods are challenging due to the complexity of the agricultural and food matrices. A specific and complete separation and enrichment of the target compound is sometimes more important than the development of detection tools. Raman spectroscopy and its derivative, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), have been widely used for the detection of specific food components due to their unique ability to record “fingerprinting” features of each molecule. However, Raman spectroscopy/SERS records the spectral signatures of all the food components, demonstrating that a pre‐separation of the target compound is critical. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), defined as “artificial antibodies”, have been constructed and integrated with Raman spectroscopy/SERS for an accurate and reliable separation and detection of target compounds in agri‐foods with minimum interference from food matrices. Compared to other separation elements (e.g., antibody, aptamer etc.) that can be integrated with Raman spectroscopy/SERS for sensing, MIPs do not contribute to spectral signature, can be reused multiple times and are more resistant to environmental factors, demonstrating the potential to be used for in‐field and on‐line screening of food safety and quality. |
