With the aim of developing polymeric gels sensitive to external stimuli and able to reversibly adsorb and release divalent ions, copolymer gels of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPA) and methacrylic (MAA) monomers were prepared. We chose calcium as a target divalent ion. Two MAAs form a complex with a calcium ion, and the NIPA component allows the polymers to swell and shrink reversibly in response to temperature. The adsorbing site develops an affinity to target ions when the adsorbing molecules come into proximity, but when they are separated, the affinity diminishes. To enhance the affinity to calcium, an imprinting technique was applied using Ca2+ and Pb2+ ions as templates in methylsulfoxide and dioxane media, respectively. The adsorption capacity of the imprinted gels was compared with that of the nonimprinted gels, and the effects of the templates, the solvents, and the amount of methacrylic monomers used in the synthesis and the medium temperature over the Ca2+ adsorption capacity of the gels from aqueous solutions were evaluated. The analysis of the adsorption revealed that (a) the adsorption can be described by the Langmuir isotherms; (b) there is an approximately linear relationship between saturation and methacrylic monomer concentration; (c) the affinity depends on the degree of gel swelling or shrinkage that can be switched on and off by temperature; (d) in the shrunken state, the affinity depends approximately linearly on the MAA concentration in the imprinted gels, whereas in the nonimprinted gels it is proportional to the square of MAA concentration; (e) the imprinted gels adsorb more than the nonimprinted gels when MAA concentration is less than that of permanent cross linkers. The success of imprinting of CaMAA2 and PbMAA2 complex is evidence for memory of such complex onto the weakly cross-linked gel.

We report an experimental realization of a gel system in which frustrations exist and can be minimized, thus meeting two crucial criteria predicted to enable memory of conformations in polymers. The gels consist of a thermosensitive major monomer component and two minor components. One minor component is positively charged and will form complexes around negatively charged target molecules placed in solution. The complexes can be imprinted into the gel by then cross-linking the second minor component, which will form cross-links additional to those in the major polymer matrix. The complexes are destroyed and reformed upon swelling and reshrinking of the gels, showing that memorization has been achieved.

Weakly cross-linked heteropolymer gels that memorize molecular pairs have been designed and synthesized. The polymer consists of a main monomer component responsible for volume phase transition, methacrylic acid that adsorbs one divalent ion as a pair, and cross-links; The memory of pairing of methacrylic acids within the gels was encoded in the primary sequence of main monomers, methacrylic acids and cross-links within the gels, which was achieved by "imprinting", namely, by synthesizing gels while methacrylic monomers were paired prior to polymerization. The control gels, where methacrylic monomers were randomly distributed, showed frustration in forming pairs, whereas such frustration was completely diminished in the imprinted gels allowing the memory of pair formation.

We report development of a polymer gel with a catalytic activity that can be switched on and off when the solvent composition is changed. The gel consists of two species of monomers. The major component, N-isopropylacrylamide, makes the gel swell and shrink in response to a change in composition of ethanol/water mixtures. The minor component, vinylimidazole, which is capable of catalysis, is copolymerized into the gel network. The reaction rate for catalytic hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl caprylate was small when the gel was swollen. In contrast, when the gel was shrunken, the reaction rate increased 5 times. The activity changes discontinuously as a function of solvent composition, thus the catalysis can be switched on and off by an infinitesimal change in solvent composition. The kinetics of catalysis by the gel in the shrunken state is well described by the Michaelis-Menten formula, indicating that the absorption of the substrate by the hydrophobic environment created by the N-isopropylacrylamide polymer in the shrunken gel is responsible for enhancement of catalytic activity, In the swollen state, the rate vs. active site concentration is linear, indicating that the substrate absorption is not a primary factor determining the kinetics, Catalytic activity of the gel is studied for substrates with various alkyl chain lengths; of those studied the switching effect is most pronounced for p-nitrophenyl caprylate.

A general approach is presented for creating polymer gels that can recognize and capture a target molecule by multiple-point interaction and that can reversibly change their affinity to the target by more than one order of magnitude. The polymers consist of majority monomers that make the gel reversibly swell and shrink and minority monomers that constitute multiple-point adsorption centers for the target molecule. Multiple-point interaction is experimentally proven by power laws found between the affinity and the concentration of the adsorbing monomers within the gels.

Polyampholyte gel, frustrated by the conflicting interactions between its positive and negative monomers, c-an undergo a sharp discontinuous phase transition driven by changing either gel composition or solvent quality and/or permeability. This finding completes the investigation of all four major interactions involved in the biomolecular machinery with respect to their role in the behavior of polymer gels, considered here as a model of biopolymer system. The result also sheds light on the possible role of frustrations in biomolecular systems, such as proteins. [S0031-9007(99)09334-5].

Protein folding is one of the most challenging problems in science. How can polymers memorize and fold into unique conformations? How can they recognize molecules, catalyze chemical reactions, transfer molecular information, and create motions? The principle behind these mechanisms lies in the concept of thermodynamically stable phases of heteropolymers. Recent theories predict that the collapsed phase should be further classified into three phases: freely fluctuating like liquid, frozen in degenerate conformations, and frozen in a unique conformation. This yields a clue on how one can attempt creation artificial polymers capable to mimic some of the protein properties and functions. The reversible adsorption of target molecules is suggested as a primary means to achieve this goal. Target molecules with multiple adsorption sites play a twofold role. First, they mediate specific interactions between monomers and thus serve as "gluons". Second, monitoring the adsorption provides the experimental possibility to test directly on monomer contacts, which is directly related to observation of the order parameter associated with heteropolymer freezing transition. A slight change in the backbone conformation alters the spacial arrangement of the group, allowing for reversible adsorption and release. Polymer gels are developed that can reversibly change their affinity to target molecules by orders of magnitude. The gels are made of copolymers of backbone monomers that can reorganize themselves through thermal volume phase transition and of monomers that can attract the target at multiple contact points. Further the gels "imprinted" with the target showed a marked increase in the affinity, thus mimicing a protein-like ability to memorize and recognize certain target.