The molecular imprinting method was applied for synthesizing gels with a chiral helical cavity using various bifunctional vinyl monomers, such as alpha-(benzyloxymethyl)acrylic acid derivatives as a monomer, and one-handed helical (+)-poly(diphenyl-2-pyridylmethyl methacrylate) as a template. The chiral gels were almost quantitatively prepared after removal of the template polymer by hydrolysis of the ester groups. The obtained gels exhibited chiral resolution powers toward various racemates, such as trans-stilbene oxide and Troger's base, and the substituents on the phenyl group of the monomer significantly affected the recognition ability. The observed separation factors were higher than those of the gels prepared from the mono-functional vinyl monomer, methacrylic acid. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.