Enzyme‐Carrying Polymeric Nanofibers Prepared via Electrospinning for Use as Unique Biocatalysts

Abstract

Improvement of catalytic efficiency of immobilized enzymes via materials engineering was demonstrated through the preparation of bioactive nanofibers. Bioactive polystyrene (PS) nanofibers with a typical diameter of 120 nm were prepared and examined for catalytic efficiency for biotransformations. The nanofibers were produced by electrospinning functionalized PS, followed by the chemical attachment of a model enzyme, alpha-chymotrypsin. The observed enzyme loading as determined by active site titration was up to 1.4% (wt/wt), corresponding to over 27.4% monolayer coverage of the external surface of nanofibers. The apparent hydrolytic activity of the nanofibrous enzyme in aqueous solutions was over 65% of that of the native enzyme, indicating a high catalytic efficiency as compared to other forms of immobilized enzymes. Furthermore, nanofibrous alpha-chymotrypsin exhibited a much-improved nonaqueous activity that was over 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of its native counterpart suspended in organic solvents including hexane and isooctane. It appeared that the covalent binding also improved the enzyme's stability against structural denaturation, such that the half-life of the nanofibrous enzyme in methanol was 18-fold longer than that of the native enzyme.

Fabrication and Characterization of Core-Shell Magnetic Chitosan Nanoparticles as a Novel carrier for Immobilization of <i>Burkholderia cepacia</i> Lipase

“…The particles are biocompatible, have the ability to be conjugated to molecules without af-fecting the core and also can be used to encapsulate drugs 1 . Various micro/nano carriers, particularly nanoparticles and nanofibers, have become available for enzyme immobilization 4,5 . Typically, smaller particles provide a larger surface area for the attachment of enzymes 6 and a shorter diffusional path for the substrates.…”

Nano Fibres by Electro spinning: Properties and Applications

“…143 The catalytic activity of palladium (Pd)-incorporated nanofibres for selective hydrogenation of dehydrolinalool was found to be 4.5 times higher than the Pd catalyst supported on Al 2 O 3 powders. 130 It was observed that the intensity of light scattered from nanofibres was dependant on the polarization direction of light.…”

Polymer materials for enzyme immobilization and their application in bioreactors

“…To achieve high enzyme loading and catalytic efficiency of enzymes for large-scale operation and application, polymer nanofibers have attracted continuous attention for their unique properties (39,40). Compared with other nanostructured supports (e.g.…”