Figure 4.
(a) The initial reaction rate, V0, is plotted as a function of catalyst concentration at two ethanol concentrations. The catalyst concentration was increased by adding more gel samples to a constant volume of solution. The reaction rate catalyzed by the collapsed gel in 15 vol % ethanol obeys the Michaelis–Menten kinetics, but the swollen gel in 10 vol % ethanol does not in this catalyst-concentration region. (b) Catalysis rate as a function of alkyl chain length of substrate. ○, Reaction rate for the collapsed gel in 30% ethanol mixture, where the p-nitrophenyl caprylate (n = 8) has the largest catalysis rate. ●, The swollen gel in 5% ethanol mixture.