Abstract Screening of monoclonal-antibody libraries generated against the tert-butyl phosphonate hapten 2 and the chloromethyl phosphonate hapten 3 with pivaloyloxymethyl- umbelliferone 1 as a fluorogenic substrate led to the isolation of eleven catalytic antibodies with rate accelerations around k cat/k uncat= 10 3. The antibodies are not inhibited by the product and accept different acyloxymethyl derivatives of acidic phenols as substrates. ...