Solvent-tunable colors in imprinted helical structures on polymer template via multiple UV-induced polymerization
(1256–1262)Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer  Chemistry 49 #5 (2011)
Liu et al ofNational Cheng Kung University, China produced a solvent tunable single-layer polymer film with a multipitched photonic structure as a new photonic band gap material by imprinting the helical structures on polymer matrices through multiple photocrosslinking in an induced chiral nematic mesophase.  Here, the polymer matrices themselves served as a chiral template, which exhibited Bragg reflections in the absence of both a chiral dopant and anisotropic materials because of the memory effects of the polymer network.  Tuning of colors was achieved by making a refractive index contrast in the two periodic media of imprinted solid helical structure and the isotropic liquids that fill it.  On incorporation of various isotropic liquids in the imprinted matrices, a sharp peak in the reflection spectrum shifted drastically, which indicated that the wavelength shifts strongly depended on the sort of liquids that filled the matrices. (RDC 2/23/2011)

Preparation and Characterization of Hydrophilic Olaquindox Molecularly Imprinted Polymer in Aqueous Environment
(67 – 77) International Journal of Polymer Analysis and Characterization 16 #1 (2011)
Xu et al of Shandong Agricultural University and Qingdao Agricultural University, China synthesized a hydrophilic polymer was synthesized by a room temperature ionic liquid-mediated surface molecular imprinting technique in combination with a sol-gel process using water as solution.  This imprinted polymer offered a faster kinetics for the adsorption of olaquindox in water.  (RDC 2/16/2011).

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) Detection of Theophylline via Electropolymerized Molecularly Imprinted Polythiophenes
(9724–9735) Macromolecules 43 #23 (2010)
Pernites et al of the University of Houston, Texas  produced a highly selective, and robust ultrathin sensor film for theophylline detection by an electropolymerized molecularly imprinted polymer (E-MIP) film of a terthiophene derivative. The method involved direct electropolymerization of the H-bond complexing terthiophene monomer. A key enabling step in sensor fabrication is the use of an electrochemically mediated washing step of the template.  The fabricated E-MIP sensor film showed a homogeneous surface coverage, high sensitivity, long-term stability, and strong selectivity toward the imprinted template molecule. This indicated the formation of precise and stable cavities that retained the exact memory of the size, shape, and orientation of the functional groups during the templating electropolymerization steps.  (RDC 1/18/2011)

Shape-controlled fabrication of polypyrrole microstructures by replicating organic crystals through electrostatic interactions 
(5400-5406) Polymer 51 #23 (2010)
Jeon, Yoon and Im of Hanyang University, South Korea  used a series of sulfobenzoic acid salt forms with various cations (K+, Na+, Li+, NH4+) in different positions (para, meta, ortho) of the sulfonate group on the benzene ring to form organic crystals as sacrificial templates.  Using these crystals, five different shapes of PPy microstructures (hexagonal microplates, curled nanofibers, lozenge-shaped microplates, rigid rods, parallelogram microplates), were produced through electrostatic interaction between the anionic crystal surfaces and the cationic PPy chains.  The electrical properties were dictated by the molecular structures of the organic salt molecules used. While the highest conductivity (200.3 Scm−1) was observed in PPy using crystals of para-linked 4-sulfobenzoic acid monopotassium salt, the lowest conductivity (0.8 Scm−1) was observed in PPy prepared in the presence of crystals of ortho-linked 2-sulfobenzoic acid monoammonium salt.  (RDC 12/17/2010)