Abstract: Novel molecularly imprinted microgels incorporating arginine and tyrosine side chains as functional monomers have been designed and synthesised with percentages of cross-linker ranging from 70 to 90%. Full chemico-physical characterisation including Mr, coil density and size particle determination concluded that all polymer preparations obtained can be classified as microgels. Molecular imprinting using a phosphate template was used to generate catalytic microgels for the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl carbonates. Kinetic characterisation of the catalytic activity of the different preparations indicated that values of critical monomer concentration (CM) and percentage of cross-linker play an important role in determining the catalytic efficiency of the different preparations. Microgels containing 70% cross-linker were the only ones following the Michaelis-Menten saturation model and kinetic parameters were obtained using 4 mg/ml of M397: Vmax = 1.34 x 10-6 M s-1 (S.E. 1.28 x 10-7) and KM = 2.38 x 10-3 M (S.E. 3.1 x 10-4)
Template and target information: 4-Nitrophenyl-4'-(acetamido)phenyl hydrogen phosphate, TSA
Author keywords: Molecularly imprinted microgels, phosphate, Catalytic polymers

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