Polymer gels that memorize elements of molecular conformation

Weakly cross-linked heteropolymer gels that memorize molecular pairs have b een designed and synthesized. The polymer consists of a main monomer compon ent responsible for volume phase transition, methacrylic acid that adsorbs one divalent ion as a pair, and cross-links; The memory of pairing of metha crylic acids within the gels was encoded in the primary sequence of main mo nomers, methacrylic acids and cross-links within the gels, which was achiev ed by "imprinting", namely, by synthesizing gels while methacrylic monomers were paired prior to polymerization. The control gels, where methacrylic m onomers were randomly distributed, showed frustration in forming pairs, whe reas such frustration was completely diminished in the imprinted gels allow ing the memory of pair formation.