ABSTRACT
Essential to all successful preparations of molecularly imprinted materials is a careful choice of the imprinting components,well emphasized in most other chapters in this book. These components, or building blocks, are in most instances reactive monomers, capable of forming network polymers or gels that are su⁄ciently stable to maintain a memory for the template. Not only are the building blocks essential to the molecular recognition of the ligand, but also to the various techniques of preparing the matrices and the physical and chemical properties of the ¢nal materials. All imprinting protocols are therefore highly dependent on the components used.
