Glycoside Hydrolysis with Sugar-Templated Microgel Catalysts

Water-soluble, carbohydrate-templated microgels are explored as catalysts for the hydrolysis of glycosidic bonds. The reaction is more than 2 orders of magnitude accelerated for templated macromolecular catalysts over low-molecular-weight complexes. The structure of the carbohydrate used as template during material preparation directs the catalytic performance of the catalysts to differentiate epimeric substrates.