In Situ Encapsulation of Cellubiase Enzyme in Magnetic Mesoporous Silica via the Nonsurfactant-templated Sol-gel Method

Nonsurfactant-templated sol-gel method is an advanced technology for enzyme encapsulation. The immobilized enzyme can be reused many times, so that can reduce the cost. It has a broad application prospect in biological catalysis. D-fructose is used as non-surfactant template to generate mesopores. The average diameter of the mesoporous silica is 3. 2 nm. And they significantly improve the activity of the immobilized enzyme. The best result is 70% of free enzyme. On the other hand, the mesopores are smaller than the size of cellobiase enzyme. So the enzyme will not leach out. That can help avoiding enzyme leaching. The magnetic nanoparticles can make the separation and recycle of immobilized enzyme easier and more feasible. The incorporation of magnetic nanoparticles has little effect on the enzyme activity. The magnetic encapsulated enzyme can be easily recycled by magnet force. More than 83% remained after 10 cycles. The process is simple and biocompatible as the sol-gel reaction occurs inaqueous phase and neutral pH.