Responsive polymers as smart carriers in tunable catalytic processes

Abstract The use of stimuli-responsive polymers as carrier materials for catalyst immobilization turned out to be favorable with respect to catalyst stability as well as easy catalyst separation and recycling. Moreover, the induced property changes of the smart catalyst support were also used to affect catalyst activity. This chapter summarizes recent efforts in immobilizing different kinds of catalysts including transition metals, enzymes, or small organic molecules on stimuli-sensitive polymer materials. The question on how to use the smart behavior of the polymeric support to tune catalyst activity will be particularly addressed.