Footprint Catalysis. I. A New Method for Designing “Tailor-Made” Catalysts with Substrate Specificity: Silica (Alumina) Catalysts for Butanolysis of Benzoic Anhydride

The design of tailor-made specific catalysts for a given organic reaction was investigated. Dibenzamide or N-benzoylbenzenesulfonamide, transition state analogs of benzoic anhydride on transacylation, was found to act as a template upon aluminium ion-doped silica gel and to imprint specific adsorption sites, “footprints,” on the surface. The footprints were particular Lewis acid sites with a complementary structure to the template. They demonstrated an enzyme-like specific catalytic function on the butanolysis of benzoic anhydride through their specific affinities for substrate molecules in the transition state.