Nature-inspired polymer catalyst for formulating on/off-selective catalytic ability, by virtue of recognition/misrecognition-alterable scaffolds

摘要

Here, we aimed to develop manipulatable catalytic paradigms, expounding how to endue the catalysts with on/off-selective catalytic ability. Inspired from the nature, this target was hit by reporting a polymer catalyst prepared by imprinting substrate molecules in a metal-nanoparticle- encapsulated smart polymer that held mobile molecular chains in the polymeric networks. These mobile functional chains, by being "frozen" or "thawed", allowed the smart polymer carrier to function with either recognition or misrecognition properties for the imprinted substrate, resulting in on/off-selective catalytic ability. This catalyst exhibited selective catalytic behaviors towards the imprinted substrate at relatively low temperatures, due to the "frozen" functional chains which admitted recognition properties. In contrast, this catalyst did not provide selective catalytic behaviors at relatively high temperatures, arising from the growing mobility of these functional chains which dismantled the recognition system. In this way, this catalyst showed the on/off- selective catalytic ability. The formulation of this catalyst shares an attractive prospect with the development of programmable catalytic processes.