Engineering of polystyrene-supported artificial catalytic triad constructed by nanoprecipitation for efficient ester hydrolysis in water

To develop simple catalytic systems without well-defined tertiary structures is of paramount importance to perform bio-inspired chemistry but remains challenge. Here, we have developed a simple one-step strategy for preparing polystyrene-supported artificial catalytic triad (ACT) systems. Polymers containing ACTs and a polymer containing urea groups were designed and synthesized for the preparation of catalysts via nanoprecipitation. The coil-globule collapse of polystyrene chains created hydrophobic microenvironments. The catalytic performance could be regulated by altering polymer compositions. The hydrophobic microenvironments played important roles in the efficiency of polystyrene-supported artificial catalytic triads, arising from varied affinity for the hydrophobic substrates and/or regulating the local pKa of artificial catalytic triads. A postulated mechanism for ester hydrolysis over polystyrene-supported catalysts was presented. This strategy has potential applications for engineering other multifunctional, enzyme-inspired catalysts.