Footprint Catalysis. V. Substituent Effects of Template Molecules on the Catalytic Behavior of Imprinted Molecular Footprint Cavities

Abstract “Footprint catalysts” are silica(alumina) gel catalysts with tailored substrate specificities; they are easily prepared by the present authors' molecular imprinting procedures with an appropriate template. Four footprint catalysts were newly prepared by imprinting using p-acetamido-substituted derivatives of benzenesulfonamide and benzamide as templates. They catalyzed transacylations of benzoic anhydride and 4-(acetamido)benzoic benzoic anhydride, respectively. The effects of the acetamido substituents apart from the reaction center on the substrate specificities were investigated.