Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) are formed using a template molecule complexed to interactive monomers and polymerized. Subsequent removal of the template leaves a specific binding cavity that selectively rebinds the template versus any other molecule.  There are now tens of thousands of publications on the subject, but few introduce innovative concepts like those developed in our group.With respect to more traditional MIP strategies, our group was the first to rigorously show that shape selectivity is an important component of molecular recognition in MIPs.  Through a series of papers we showed that shape selectivity is most effective when there is 1 non-covalent interaction of the template with the MIP, and subordinate to functional group pre-organization for MIPs with 3 or more non-covalent interactions (1. Anal. Chim. Acta, 2004, 504, 23-30.  2. Anal Chim Acta, 2007, 591, 7-16).  In another “discovery-based” MIP materials project, the use of just one monomer (Scheme above) for MIPs, referred to as OMNiMIPs (for one monomer molecularly imprinted polymers) has revolutionized the field because it has solved many problems of copolymer formulations and is significantly easier to carry out in practice (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 7827-7833).  We have an ongoing effort toward design and synthesis of new crosslinkers that can improve the OMNiMIP method (Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 2007, 389, 433-440).  Recently we have reported the first example of using chiral chromatography to determine the stereochemistry of a single enantiomer analyte (Organic Letters, 2014, 16, 1402–1405).  MIPs are not required for this method, but do provide a straightforward method of obtaining enantiomeric stationary phases.