Over
the past few decades, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs)
have become extremely attractive materials for biomimetic molecular
recognition due to their excellent affinity and specificity, combined
with robustness, easy engineering, and competitive costs. MIPs are
synthetic antibody mimics obtained by the synthesis of 3D polymer
networks around template molecules, thus generating specific binding
cavities. Numerous efforts have been made to improve the performances
and the versatility of MIPs, with a special focus on ways to control
their size, morphology, and physical form for a given application.
Gaining control over these parameters has allowed MIPs to adopt a
defined micro- and nanostructure, providing access to nanocomposites
and micro/nanosystems, with fine-tuned properties, which become critical
for modern applications ranging from chemical sensing to bioimaging
and medical therapy. In this rich and complex context, light as a
cheap and versatile source of energy has emerged as a powerful tool
for structuring MIPs. This review presents the most recent advances
on structuring MIPs at the nano/microscale, using light as a stimulus to trigger the polymerization process. Thus, after
a general introduction on radical polymerization of MIPs, with a special
emphasis on photopolymerization by UV and visible light, the reader
will be presented with ways of structuring MIPs by processes that
are inherently spatially confined, such as localized photopolymerization
and lithographic techniques, supported by representative examples
and complemented with a final outlook on future trends in this field.