Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Catalysis and Synthesis

The area of biomimetic catalysis based on molecular imprinted polymers has progressed considerably over the last two decades, with research efforts focused on developing catalysts for challenging reactions and on understanding the key factors in template structure and polymer morphology that influence efficiency and selectivity. Recent advances and significant achievements in the field presented in this chapter are organized according to four topics: hydrolytic reactions of challenging substrates, oxidase mimics, metallo-enzyme mimics, and polymers that display unusual reactivity, such as in the case of reactions for which enzymes don't exist, such as Diels-Alder and Kemp elimination. For each theme, significant examples for recent literature are presented and discussed.