Since the introduction of deep eutectic solvents (DESs), numerous reports have surfaced describing its tunable properties and environmentally benign nature. Due to such favorable properties of DESs, they have found a wide variety of applications. Moreover, in order to harness the potential of proteins in numerous industries, there is an emergent need to find a suitable cosolvent that is biocompatible with protein and is also environmentally safe. In this context, this work presents a systematic evaluation of effect of two deep eutectic solvents (DESs), namely, choline chloride-urea (ChCl-urea) and choline chloride-glycerol (ChCl-gly) on the structural and thermal stability along with activity of enzyme α-chymotrypsin (CT) using circular dichroism (CD), UV–visible, steady state, and thermal fluorescence spectroscopy. It was observed that the presence of DESs does lead to enhancement in the thermal stability of CT along with the preservation of activity. The enzymatic activity was well maintained in both the DESs, and the deleterious effect of urea was overcome by ChCl-urea on the enzyme. Also, desirable results were observed for ChCl-urea, despite having urea as one of its major components. Thus, the negative outcome of urea was overpowered by the combination of ChCl and urea. Furthermore, all the biomolecular studies were also performed with the individual constituents of DESs. It was found that the effect imparted by both the ChCl-based DESs on CT is by the virtue of DES itself rather than its individual constituent. Overall, both the DESs can be described as potential biocompatible, sustainable, and promising cosolvents for CT with enhanced structural and thermal stability along with preservation of its activity.

Proteins have immense untapped potential in numerous industries as a green catalyst. Thus, there is an emergent need to find a suitable co-solvent that is biocompatible with protein and environmentally...

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have emerged as a new class of green, designer and biocompatible solvents, an alternative to the conventional organic solvents and ionic liquids (ILs) which are comparatively...

Herein, use of “water-in-Deep eutectic solvents (DES)” system has been shown as an alternative platform for the low temperature conversion of alginic acid (AA) to multifunctional aliginate derived carbon (AAC)...

Graphene oxide nanoribbons with superior physicochemical properties acquired from graphene and carbon nanotubes have been used in various applications including biomedical applications. For biomedical applications, it is of utmost importance to understand how these graphene oxide nanoribbons interact with proteins and the influence they have on protein conformation and function. In this regard, an attempt has been made to evaluate the utility of graphene oxide nanoribbons as a compatible biomaterial for lysozyme (Lys) protein. In this study, graphene oxide nanoribbons (GONRs) synthesized from multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were first functionalized with (3-aminopropyl)­triethoxysilane (APTES) and further modified with vanillin (Val) to obtain Val-APTES-GONRs. On characterization, it was found that the Val-APTES-GONRs material had a ribbonlike morphology with abundant functionalities for interaction with protein. On evaluation of Val-APTES-GONRs as a compatible biomaterial for Lys, studies revealed that a lower concentration of the as-synthesized material has less influence on the conformation and the structure of Lys with better activity, whereas higher concentrations of the as-synthesized material had a greater influence on conformation and the structure of Lys with decreased activity. Overall, the thermal stability of Lys was maintained after introducing the Val-APTES-GONRs material. In addition, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopies were performed for Lys composites with Val-APTES-GONRs for further understanding biomolecular interactions. This study is beneficial for designing advanced graphene-based materials for numerous bioinspired applications and better biomaterials for biotechnological use.