Polymer catalysts by molecular imprinting: A labile covalent bonding approach

Abstract

An imprinting technique with labile covalent interactions has been developed in the design of new polymer catalysts. The template monomer 2 was prepared and copolymerized with DVB or EDMA to provide the polymer with a cavity having the shape of the transition state of the reaction as well as binding sites for the substrate and catalytic functionalities. The rate of hydrolysis of diphenyl carbonate (1) in the presence of the imprinted polymer IEP-DVB-THF was found to be 120 times faster than the background uncatalyzed reaction. A K-m of 32 mM and a k(cat) of 1.8 X 10(-3) min(-1) were observed from Michaelis-Menten kinetics with the imprinted polymer IEP-DVB-TBF.