Catalysis by enzymes entrapped into hydrated surfactant aggregates having lamellar or cylindrical (hexagonal) or ball-shaped (cubic) structure in organic solvents.
Instead of aqueous solutions, universally recognized in enzymology, ternary systems of the water/organic solvent/surfactant type are suggested as liquid-crystalline media for enzymatic reactions. Two systems, water/octane/Aerosol OT and water/cyclohexane/Brij 96, have been used to solubilize acid and alkaline phosphatases and peroxidase. The enzymes under study do function in liquid-crystalline mesophases having lamellar, cylindrical (reversed hexagonal) and ball-shaped (reversed cubic) packing of the surfactant molecules. A significant result is that the phase transition from one liquid-crystalline structure to another entails, as a rule, a reversible change in the catalytic activity of the solubilized enzyme.
D002384:Catalysis; D004798:Enzymes; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D006868:Hydrolysis; D012995:Solubility; D012997:Solvents; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013501:Surface-Active Agents
D004798:Enzymes; D012997:Solvents; D013501:Surface-Active Agents