Book title: Molecularly Imprinted Materials-2003
Editors: Kofinas P, Sellergren B, Roberts MJ
Publisher: Materials Research Society
City: Warrendale
Series title: MRS Symposium Proceedings
Volume number: 787
Abstract: A new mechanistic diagram describing the non-covalent molecular imprinting process is put forth in the text. A significant consequence of the new mechanistic picture is that the pre-polymer complex structure does not necessarily reflect the structure of the final binding sites in the polymer. Two independent studies are presented in combined form that support the suggested changes to the mechanistic diagram. In the first study, the maximum number of functional groups surrounding the template molecule in solution are shown to be less than the average number of functional groups in the binding sites of the polymers. In the second study, shape selectivity is shown to be an important contributor to molecular recognition by the imprinted polymers; which is significant because contributions of shape cannot be predicted by the solution phase pre-polymer complex