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This study is aimed at the present challenge in tandem catalysts, addressing how to endow the catalysts with self‐controlled tandem catalytic‐ability. By borrowing the predation strategy from sundew, the objective was originally met by reporting a smart tandem catalyst which can self‐control the tandem catalytic behavior by catching, decomposing and assimilating the engaging molecules (such as 4‐nitrophenyl acetate). This catalyst was made of a unique leaf containing two functional layers where each may be responsible for one coupled process. The first layer in this catalyst was fabricated with a zipper‐like reactive polymer capable of opening and closing, which allowed the catalyst to catch and decompose 4‐nitrophenyl acetate. The second layer in this catalyst allowed, however, further access to assimilate the decomposed substrate (i. e., 4‐nitrophenol), made of an antibody‐like polymer and encapsulated metal nanoparticles. In this way, the use of this catalyst led to the occurrence of the self‐controlled tandem catalytic‐ability. This novel design suggests a new protocol for developing smart tandem catalysts, which opens new opportunities for controlled tandem catalytic processes. Copying Nature: Inspired by the predation strategy in sundews, this study presents the first case of smart tandem catalysts which can self‐control the tandem catalytic behavior by catching, decomposing and assimilating the engaging molecules (such as 4‐nitrophenyl acetate). This catalyst was fabricated with a unique leaf made of two functional layers where each may be responsible for one coupled process. This novel design opens new opportunities for controlled tandem catalytic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was aimed at addressing the present challenge of cascade reactions, namely, how to furnish the catalysts with desired and hierarchical catalytic ability. This issue was addressed by constructing a cascade-reaction nanoreactor made of a bifunctional molecularly imprinted polymer containing acidic catalytic sites and Pt nanoparticles. The acidic catalytic sites within the imprinted polymer allowed one specified reaction, whereas the encapsulated Pt nanoparticles were responsible for another coupled reaction. To that end, the unique imprinted polymer was fabricated by using two well-coupled templates, that is, 4-nitrophenyl acetate and 4-nitrophenol. The catalytic hydrolysis of the former compound at the acidic catalytic sites led to the formation of the latter compound, which was further reduced by the encapsulated Pt nanoparticles to 4-aminophenol. Therefore, this nanoreactor demonstrated a catalytic-cascade ability. This protocol opens up the opportunity to develop functional catalysts for complicated chemical processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An originally designed catalytic and shape-memory polymer reactor is reported. This reactor is made of a unique shape-switchable polymer composed of a thermosensitive control layer and an inert substrate layer. With the inert substrate layer made of poly(acrylamide), the thermosensitive control layer consists of nickel nanoparticles and a smart polymer composite of poly(1-vinylimidazole) (PVIm) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) that exhibit switchable domains. The self-healing and dissociation between PVIm and PAAc induce convex/concave-switchable shapes in the resulting reactor, which cause tunable access to the encapsulated metal nanoparticles. In this way, this reactor demonstrates tunable catalytic ability. Unlike reported smart polymer reactors exhibiting tunable catalysis usually due to the thermal phase transition of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm), this novel reactor adopts the shape-switchable strategy for tunable catalysis. This novel design suggests a new protocol for the development of smart catalytic reactors, which opens new opportunities for controlled chemical processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]