Abstract: The fabrication of ultrathin selective molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) microdots using polymerization by evanescent waves (PEW) is demonstrated for the first time. A specific prepolymerization mixture exhibiting suitable photosentivity at 405 nm was developed, containing in particular the visible-light photoinitiator bis(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)-phenylphosphineoxide. PEW allows for nanometric resolution of the MIP dots in the z-scale. Within a few seconds, it is possible to generate molecularly imprinted microdots with sub-100 nm thickness. The amino acid Z-(l)-phenylalanine was used as model imprinting template, and the fluorescent dansyl-phenylalanine was employed as a fluorescently labeled derivative for the recognition tests. The MIP microdots showed specific molecular recognition for (l)-phenylalanine derivatives and were able to discriminate dansyl-(l)-phenylalanine from dansyl-(d)-phenylalanine
Template and target information: Z-(l)-phenylalanine, dansyl-phenylalanine