Fabrication of molecularly imprinted polymer microstructures Original Research Article

We report the combination of soft lithography and molecular imprinting for the fabrication of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) microstructures on silicon wafers. Proof-of-concept experiments were carried out using 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic (2,4-D) acid as the template molecule. The MIP microstructures were fabricated by employing micromolding in capillaries (MIMIC) and a soft poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) stamp containing 20 μm feature size relief structures. MIP micromonoliths with a cross-sectional dimension of 20 μm×20 μm were isolated and used directly after extraction of the template. The binding characteristics of these imprinted polymer micromonoliths were studied using radioligand binding analysis.