Entrapment of enzyme in water-restricted microenvironment for enzyme-mediated catalysis under microemulsion-based organogels.
Nonaqueous enzymology has emerged as a major area of biotechnology research and development. Enzymes in organic solvents offer great potential for the biocatalysis of a wide range of chemical processes that cannot occur in water. One of the most commonly used methods for carrying out enzymatic conversions in organic solvents is enzymes solubilized in water-in-oil (w/o) microemulsions or water containing reverse micelles. In reverse micelles, enzyme molecules are solubilized in discrete hydrated micelles formed by surfactants within a continuous phase, i.e., nonpolar organic solvent. Under appropriate conditions, these solutions are homogeneous, thermodynamically stable, and optically transparent. However, there are very few examples of preparative-scale enzyme-catalyzed synthesis in water-in-oil microemulsion. One reason is that despite the advantages offered by microemulsion media, product isolation and enzyme reuse from such single-phase liquid medium is more complex than in competing methodologies in which the catalyst is present as a separate solid phase. Therefore, the approach simplifying product isolation, and enzyme reuse from microemulsion-based media, has been the use of a gelled microemulsion system, especially gelatin silica nanocomposite.
Post Graduate Department of Biosciences, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar-388 120, Gujarat, India. datta_madamwar@yahoo.com
Datta
D
Madamwar
Amit
A
Thakar
D004798:Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism*; D005780:Gelatin; D005782:Gels; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012997:Solvents; D014867:Water
D004798:Enzymes; D005782:Gels; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012997:Solvents; D014867:Water; D005780:Gelatin