Enzyme-inspired dry-powder polymeric catalyst for green and fast pharmaceutical manufacturing processes

Catalysis in pharma manufacturing processes is typically homogeneous, expensive and with hard catalyst recovery/regeneration. Herein an enzyme-inspired dry-powder molecularly imprinted polymeric (MIP) system was designed for fast, selective oxidation of a cholesterol derivative and easy catalyst regeneration. The strategy involved the synthesis of a template-monomer (T:M) complex followed by the crosslinked polymerization in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2). A 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (TEMPO)-MIP catalyst is obtained after the template cleavage from the matrix, and the oxidation of the N-H groups turns available TEMPO moieties within the MIP. The oxidation of benzyl alcohol, 5 alpha-cholestan-3 beta-ol and cholic acid was fast, in high yield and with selective oxidation capacity.