Nature
is a source of inspiration for the self-assembly of functional
molecular nanoarchitectures based on intermolecular bonds. This work
investigates the self-assembly of molecules (i) polyacrylic acid (PAA,
COO– group), (ii) cetyltrimethylammonium (CTA+), and (iii) alkylimidazole (ImR, imidazole group) as building
blocks with different properties and functionalities. For the dephosphorylation
reaction of diethyl 2,4-dinitrophenyl phosphate (DEDNPP) in aqueous
medium, the building blocks PAA, ImR, and CTA+ did not
show relevant catalytic activity. An increase in the rate constant
was observed from the critical aggregation concentration (CAC) between
the polymer and surfactant. This result was related to the formation
of hydrophobic pockets of the nanostructured supramolecular complexes.
For the PAA/CTAB/ImR system, the formation of hydrophobic microenvironments
made it possible to partition the DEDNPP to regions close to the catalytic
site. The increase in the rate constant was up to 1.5 × 107-fold higher than that obtained with spontaneous hydrolysis.
Thus, the extensive catalytic activity of the self-assembled multicomponent
nanoreactor demonstrated potential because of its ease of obtainment
and its variety of characteristics. Therefore, the combination of
different functional macromolecules is a strategy for the development
of inexpensive, efficient, and selective nanocatalysts with characteristics
similar to enzymes, the best-known catalysts.