Molecularly imprinted nanoparticles were prepared using a simple distillation precipitation polymerization method. In this work, propranolol-imprinted nanoparticles were synthesized using different cross-linkers combined with methacrylic acid (MAA) as a functional monomer in refluxing acetonitrile. Using the new synthetic method, uniform prorpanolol-imprinted nanoparticles were obtained in less than 3 h, which is in contrast to the long reaction time (24 h) required in previous precipitation polymerization. The new synthetic method also provides a convenient means to prepare core−shell structured nanoparticles, where the core contains imprinted binding sites and the shell has more hydrophilic characteristics. Molecular recognition properties of the imprinted nanoparticles were studied through equilibrium binding experiments. For nanoparticles containing N,N′-methylenebis(acrylamide) cross-linker, the residual C═C bonds remaining in the nanoparticles were utilized to immobilize a fluorescent compound, 1-py...