Self-organized receptor layers are synthesized by molecular imprinting methods directly on pre-coated 10 MHz quartz-crystal microbalances (QCMs). The surface-imprinting is performed by three methods using amorphous, crystalline and solubilized trypsin, respectively, as templates. These attempts allowed us to compare imprinting results obtained with templating proteins in the dry state as well as in aqueous solution. All methods are generally applicable for surface imprinting of thin films. The biomimetic sensor layers allow selective enzyme enrichment on the imprinted electrode with detection limits as low as 100 ng ml(-1) and response times of a few minutes. Solution-based polymer imprinting with native trypsin as template resulted in the highest specific enzyme recognition, which even allowed us to distinguish denatured trypsin from the native form.

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Nano- and micro-structured materials are a powerful tool in the development of chemical sensors. Surface imprinting of different biogenous species into pre-polymerized, highly crosslinked reaction mixtures (polyurethanes, polystyrenes, sol-gel materials etc.) yields selfassembled structures that are optimized to re-incorporate the template particle. Surface properties are tuned both on the micrometer as well as the molecular scale, as selectivity studies suggest the formation of strongly adapted interaction networks between the polymer and the species used for imprinting.