Catalysis of a Diels-Alder cycloaddition with differently fabricated molecularly imprinted polymers

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been synthesised and applied as catalysts in the Diels-Alder cycloaddition of hexachlorocyclopentadiene and maleic acid. For this purpose, MIPs were generated either via bulk polymerisation, or with templates immobilised on silica particles leading to MIP shells. The performances of these differently produced MIPs were compared. MIPs obtained from bulk polymers did not show any higher catalytic activity than their respective non-imprinted control polymer (CP) particles. In contrast, the MIP shells have led to a product formation threefold as high as observed when using control polymer shells. Moreover, the catalytic effects of these MIP shells were noticeably higher than the ones of the bulk MIPs.