The molecular reaction vessels for a transesterification process created by molecular imprinting technique

Abstract

A polymeric catalyst was synthesized by co-polymerizing 4(5)-vinylimidazole and itaconic acid with trimethylpropanol trimethacrylate micro spheres. The catalyst obtained catalysed the transesterification process between p-nitrophenyl acetate and hexanol with maximal initial velocity(ν max) of 4.73 ± 0.47 μM min-1 mg-1, and turnover rate (kcat) of 8.67 min-1. Using p-nitrophenyl acetate as template, molecular imprinting process enhanced the νmax of the polymeric catalyst 3-fold. Each imprinted site can be considered as a single molecular reaction vessel, and achieved a kcat of 169 min-1 towards the conversion of p-nitrophenyl acetate in hexanol. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.