Nanostructured molecularly imprinted polymer films as synthetic recognition layers

Hierarchically nanostructured materials that combine two or more levels of structure and exhibit a combination of useful features have gained considerable interest. We describe the generation of surface-bound nanofilaments by nanomoulding on a nanoporous template surface that carry at the same time molecularly imprinted binding sites. Fluorescein was used as a model template for imprinting. The surfaces exhibited specific binding of fluorescein as revealed by fluorescence microscopy. Contact angle and ESEM measurements revealed that surface wetting properties are fine-tunable depending on the polymer and on the nanostructuring. We believe that these materials can potentially be very useful for applications such as biosensors and biochips.