Catalytic accelerations of 10-fold by an enzyme-like synthetic polymer.

A synthetic polymer, polyethyleneimine containing dodecyl (C(12)H(25))-chains for binding sites and imidazole moieties for functional catalytic groups, catalyzes the hydrolysis of phenolic sulfate esters by a two-step mechanism resembling that of the corresponding natural enzyme. Quantitative rate studies give kinetic parameters that show that the polymer (synzyme) accelerates the rate 10(12)-fold compared to unbound imidazole, and 10(2)-fold compared to a type IIA aryl sulfatase enzyme.