Molecularly imprinted La-doped mesoporous titania films with hydrolytic properties toward organophosphate pesticides

"The present work is aimed at developing a titania-based mesoporous film with catalytic properties. toward organophosphate pesticides by combining two different approaches: the molecular imprinting. and the self-assembly with a supramolecular template. The mesoporosity of the material has been. obtained by using a tri-block copolymer (Pluronic F127) as a micellar template while the molecular. imprinted cavities have been templated by a complex between La3+ and bis-4-nitro-phenyl-phosphate.. The template removal allowed opening, in one step, both the mesopores and the imprinted cavities. with a simultaneous estimation of the active sites. The catalytic activity of the molecularly imprinted. and not imprinted films toward the pesticide Paraoxons has been evaluated by means of UV-Vis. spectroscopy titration of the 4-nitro-phenolate released by the Paraoxons hydrolysis. The analysis of the. initial rates of molecularly imprinted and not imprinted films has shown that the presence of a very low. number of molecular cavities improves the catalytic properties of the imprinted film when compared to. the not imprinted films and the background hydrolysis."