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Technological progress has made chemistry assume a role of primary importance in our daily life. However, the worsening of the level of environmental pollution is increasingly leading to the realization of more eco-friendly chemical processes due to the advent of green chemistry. The challenge of green chemistry is to produce more and better while consuming and rejecting less. It represents a profitable approach to address environmental problems and the new demands of industrial competitiveness. The concept of green chemistry finds application in several material syntheses such as organic, inorganic, and coordination materials and nanomaterials. One of the different goals pursued in the field of materials science is the application of GC for producing sustainable green polymers and membranes. In this context, extremely relevant is the application of green chemistry in the production of imprinted materials by means of its combination with molecular imprinting technology. Referring to this issue, in the present review, the application of the concept of green chemistry in the production of polymeric materials is discussed. In addition, the principles of green molecular imprinting as well as their application in developing greenificated, imprinted polymers and membranes are presented. In particular, green actions (e.g., the use of harmless chemicals, natural polymers, ultrasound-assisted synthesis and extraction, supercritical CO2, etc.) characterizing the imprinting and the post-imprinting process for producing green molecularly imprinted membranes are highlighted.

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Dyes are used in different industries as textile, paper, food processing, cosmetic, leather tanning, rubber, printing and so on. These chemical substances have negative effect on the quality of the water and food, causing human diseases and environmental problems. In view of these aspects, colorant have attracted the interest of the scientists in developing efficient routes for their detection and/or removal from the polluted sites. Although traditional technologies used for removal of dyes are efficient, there is the necessity of developing innovative systems both more cheaply and of easy performance. In this scenario, the integration of the membrane science with the molecular imprinting technology is an alternative way that present many advantages such us the removal or detection of a specific dye or a class of dyes and cost reduction processes. In fact, exploiting the benefits of these two technologies it is possible to develop molecularly imprinted membranes able to recognize a dye of interest in specific mode. This potential is promising for combatting the illegal use of dyes in food, drinks and aquaculture as well as for their removal. The main positive aspects of the imprinted membranes are their chemical stability, reusability, as well as the resistance to the pH and temperature. In addition, their preparation requires short operation time and it is not expensive. All these properties have an encouraging impact in dealing with the problem of dyes contamination. This short review offers a description of the concept of molecular imprinting, starting from the approach of the synthesis of imprinted polymers until the description of the preparation of imprinted membranes. The application of imprinted polymers and membranes for the detection and/or removal of dyes from polluted sites will be also discussed.