Enhanced drug loading and extended release in hydrogels can be achieved by molecular imprinting techniques, which involve the formation of a pre-polymerization complex between the template therapeutic and functional monomers by non-covalent chemistry. This work will demonstrate substantial differences in therapeutic diffusion coefficients from recognitive hydrogels with similar mesh size and structure. Creating molecular memory within polymer chains can signifcantly delay release and is a novel, generalizable way to further control and extend release and increase loading in addition to current techniques. Structural parameters of molecularly imprinted or recognitive hydrogels were examined in this work and compared with diffusion coefficients from drug release studies and drug transport studies. Analysis of these parameters in hydrogels and associated drug delivery systems has been studied successfully for decades, but the presence of drug in the formulation and the effect on drug transport has been overlooked. Characterization analysis of the network structure of the hydrogel carrier in terms of molecular weight between crosslinking points, mesh size, and diffusion studies provides an aid to optimizing the design and begins to answer fundamental questions on the nature of the recognition and extended delivery in recognitive hydrogels on the chain level. Within our lab, recognitive hydrogels have been used to create therapeutic contact lenses, which can deliver therapeutic amounts of medication to the eye for an extended period from days to weeks. Results indicate that the decreased diffusion of drug within recognitive gels is not due to significant differences in structural parameters but due to the tuning of the chemical functionality and macromolecular memory within the polymer film.