Properties of Modified Cycloamyloses

As noted in an earlier section of this article, the utility of the cycloamyloses as covalent catalysts is limited by the low reactivity of the catalytically active hydroxyl groups at neutral pH s and by the relatively slow rates of deacylation of the covalent intermediates. In an effort to achieve effective catalysis, several investigators have attempted to selectively modify the cycloamyloses by either (1) introducing an internal catalyst to facilitate deacylation or (2) introducing a more reactive nucleophile to speed acylation and/or deacylation. 

The successful selective modification of the cycloamyloses must overcome rather severe synthetic difficulties derived primarily from the multiplicity of potentially reactive cycloamylose hydroxyl groups. Utilizing techniques developed for the modification of acyclic carbohydrates, the cycloamyloses 

The most effective catalyst for the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl acetate was reported to be a cycloheptaamylose derivative containing approximately two imidazole groups per cycloheptaamylose molecule (Cramer and Mackensen, 1970). At pH 7.5 and 23°, this material accelerates the rate of release of phenol from p-nitrophenyl acetate by a factor of 300 when compared with the hydrolysis of this substrate in the absence of catalyst. However, when compared with an equivalent concentration of imidazole, which is an effective catalyst for ester hydrolysis at neutral pHs, the rate accelerations imposed by this cycloheptaamylose derivative are only two- to threefold. Cramer and Mackensen attributed this rate enhancement to nucleophilic displacement of phenol from the included ester by a cycloheptaamylose hydroxyl group, assisted internally by the attached imidazole group 

Pseudo first-order rate constants, corresponding to the release of phenol, for the reactions of equivalent concentrations of 12 and 13 with several sub- 

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