Zeolites organic mimics

Zeolites seem to be promising catalysts for the conversion of fine chemicals and organic intermediates [1-3]. Metallo-phthallocyanines encaged in zeolites Y have been proposed as enzyme mimics [4-7]. Zeolites can replace the protein portion of natural enzymes and modify the reactivity in the same way as enzymes do by imposing steric constraints on the environment of the active metal ion site. 

Multiple hydrogen bonding interactions in tetrahedral building blocks have been employed by the group of Wuest to produce a remarkable tailored porous zeolite mimic, dubbed an organic zeolite because it does not contain any inorganic components at all.104 The pore-forming material is based on... 

Robust inorganic porous networks such as zeolites are of tremendous industrial interest in separation, storage and catalysis. As a result they have stimulated the preparation of a wider range of organic zeolites that aim to mimic their porous and robust properties while allowing more extensive synthetic tenability. 

From the above examples it is clear that reaction cavity provided by an organized or confining medium has unique features that mimics some of the features of proteins. While crystals and zeolites provide reaction cavities that are inflexible, there is a whole spectrum of organized and confined media (e.g., micelles, host-guest complexes, monolayers and bilayers, liquid crystals etc.,) that allow different degrees of freedom to the reactant molecules. These systems demonstrate clever usage of favorable entropy that is so important in natural systems. One should keep in mind... 

Organic Zeolite Analogues as Enzyme Mimics in Water... 

Soldatov. D.V. Ripmeester. J.A. Inclusion in microporous P-bis( 1,1,1 -trifluoro-5,5-dimethyl-5-methoxyacetylaceto-nato)copper(II), an organic zeolite mimic. Chem. Mater. 

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