Towards efficient chemical synthesis via engineering enzyme catalysis in biomimetic nanoreactors

Nanoreactor Confined and Enriched Intermediates for Electroreduction of CO2 to C2+ Products

In the process of electroreduction of carbon dioxide (eCO2RR) to multi-carbon (C2+) products, it is imperative to enhance the concentration of key intermediate species on the catalyst surface. The utilization of micro-nano reactors to achieve confinement effects has been widely observed in various catalytic reactions, yet it has seldom been employed in eCO2RR. Here, we present a novel nanoreactor composed of stacked CuS nanosheets for eCO2RR to C2+ products. In comparison to catalyst comprising of nanosheet with open space, the C-C coupling within this confined nanospace is significantly enhanced, resulting in the increase of Faraday efficiency (FE) of C2+ products to 53 %. In situ infrared (IR) spectroscopy reveals the confinement and enrichment of key intermediate by the nanoreactor. Our research findings demonstrate that a meticulously designed nanoreactor can elevate the selectivity of C2+ products, thereby aiding in the design of eCO2RR catalysts.

Thermo-Gelling Dendronized Chitosans for Modulating Protein Activity

Regulation of protein activity is important in their applications for biomedicine and therapeutics. Here, an approach for the regulation of protein bioactivity through molecular confinement provided by oligoethylene glycol (OEG)-based dendronized chitosan (DCS) hydrogels is reported. Structural effects on their thermoresponsiveness are investigated. The highly transparent hydrogels are formed from thermoresponsive DCSs through their thermal dehydration and exhibit an intriguing reversible sol-gel transition property when triggered at physiological temperatures. The thermo-gelling behavior and mechanical strength of these hydrogels are investigated, and possible effects from hydrophobicity of the OEG dendrons, grafting rates of the dendrons on the chitosan main chain, and solid content of polymers are examined. These DCS hydrogels are found to have lamellar morphologies and can provide characteristic hydrophobicity microenvironments formed through the crowded OEG dendrons, which show a higher level of confinement to guest proteins. This allows the DCS hydrogels remarkable activity protection capability to proteins. Furthermore, these DCS hydrogels inherit the degradability from chitosan, allowing protein release from these hydrogels through the controllable ways without impairing their activities.

Bio-inspired Track-Etched Polymeric Nanochannels: Steady-State Biosensors for Detection of Analytes

Bio-inspired polymeric nanochannel (also referred as nanopore)-based biosensors have attracted considerable attention on account of their controllable channel size and shape, multi-functional surface chemistry, unique ionic transport properties, and good robustness for applications. There are already very informative reviews on the latest developments in solid-state artificial nanochannel-based biosensors, however, which concentrated on the resistive-pulse sensing-based sensors for practical applications. The steady-state sensing-based nanochannel biosensors, in principle, have significant advantages over their counterparts in term of high sensitivity, fast response, target analytes with no size limit, and extensive suitable range. Furthermore, among the diverse materials, nanochannels based on polymeric materials perform outstandingly, due to flexible fabrication and wide application. This compressive Review summarizes the recent advances in bio-inspired polymeric nanochannels as sensing platforms for detection of important analytes in living organisms, to meet the high demand for high-performance biosensors for analysis of target analytes, and the potential for development of smart sensing devices. In the future, research efforts can be focused on transport mechanisms in the field of steady-state or resistive-pulse nanochannel-based sensors and on developing precisely size-controlled, robust, miniature and reusable, multi-functional, and high-throughput biosensors for practical applications. Future efforts should aim at a deeper understanding of the principles at the molecular level and incorporating these diverse pore architectures into homogeneous and defect-free multi-channel membrane systems. With the rapid advancement of nanoscience and biotechnology, we believe that many more achievements in nanochannel-based biosensors could be achieved in the near future, serving people in a better way.

Pickering-Droplet-Derived MOF Microreactors for Continuous-Flow Biocatalysis with Size Selectivity

Enzymatic microarchitectures with spatially controlled reactivity, engineered molecular sieving ability, favorable interior environment, and industrial productivity show great potential in synthetic protocellular systems and practical biotechnology, but their construction remains a significant challenge. Here, we proposed a Pickering emulsion interface-directed synthesis method to fabricate such a microreactor, in which a robust and defect-free MOF layer was grown around silica emulsifier stabilized droplet surfaces. The compartmentalized interior droplets can provide a biomimetic microenvironment to host free enzymes, while the outer MOF layer secludes active species from the surroundings and endows the microreactor with size-selective permeability. Impressively, the thus-designed enzymatic microreactor exhibited excellent size selectivity and long-term stability, as demonstrated by a 1000 h continuous-flow reaction, while affording completely equal enantioselectivities to the free enzyme counterpart. Moreover, the catalytic efficiency of such enzymatic microreactors was conveniently regulated through engineering of the type or thickness of the outer MOF layer or interior environments for the enzymes, highlighting their superior customized specialties. This study provides new opportunities in designing MOF-based artificial cellular microreactors for practical applications.

Stabilization of b-Glucuronidase by Immobilization in Magnetic-Silica Hybrid Supports

β-Glucuronidases are a class of enzymes that catalyze the breakdown of complex carbohydrates. They have well documented biocatalytic applications in synthesis, therapeutics, and analytics that could benefit from enzyme immobilization and stabilization. In this work, we have explored a number of immobilization strategies for Patella vulgata β-Glucuronidase that comprised a tailored combination of biomimetic silica (Si) and magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). The individual effect of each material on the enzyme upon immobilization was first tested. Three different immobilization strategies for covalent attachment on MNPs and different three catalysts for the deposition of Si particles were tested. We produced nine different immobilized preparations and only two of them presented negligible activity. All the preparations were in the micro-sized range (from 1299 ± 52 nm to 2101 ± 67 nm of hydrodynamic diameter). Their values for polydispersity index varied around 0.3, indicating homogeneous populations of particles with low probability of agglomeration. Storage, thermal, and operational stability were superior for the enzyme immobilized in the composite material. At 80 °C different preparations with Si and MNPs retained 40% of their initial activity after 6 h of incubation whereas the soluble enzyme lost 90% of its initial activity within 11 min. Integration of MNPs provided the advantage of reusing the biocatalyst via magnetic separation up to six times with residual activity. The hybrid material produced herein demonstrated its versatility and robustness as a support for β-Glucuronidases immobilization.

Design of stable magnetic hybrid nanoparticles of Si-entrapped HRP

Hybrid and composite nanoparticles represent an attractive material for enzyme integration due to possible synergic advantages of the structural builders in the properties of the nanobiocatalyst. In this study, we report the synthesis of a new stable hybrid nanobiocatalyst formed by biomimetic silica (Si) nanoparticles entrapping both Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) (EC 1.11.1.7) and magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). We have demonstrated that tailoring of the synthetic reagents and post immobilization treatments greatly impacted physical and biocatalytic properties such as an unprecedented ~280 times increase in the half-life time in thermal stability experiments. The optimized nanohybrid biocatalyst that showed superparamagnetic behaviour, was effective in the batch conversion of indole-3-acetic acid, a prodrug used in Direct Enzyme Prodrug Therapy (DEPT). Our system, that was not cytotoxic per se, showed enhanced cytotoxic activity in the presence of the prodrug towards HCT-116, a colorectal cancer cell line. The strategy developed proved to be effective in obtaining a stabilized nanobiocatalyst combining three different organic/inorganic materials with potential in DEPT and other biotechnological applications.

Improved catalytic performance of lipase under non-aqueous conditions by entrapment into alkyl-functionalized mesoporous silica

Immobilizing lipase r27RCL into octadecyl-functionalized mesoporous silica materials significantly improved the activity and enantioselectivity of the lipase.

Cell Membrane-Based Nanoreactor To Mimic the Bio-Compartmentalization Strategy of a Cell

Organelles of eukaryotic cells are structures made up of membranes, which carry out a majority of functions necessary for the surviving of the cell itself. Organelles also differentiate the prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, and are arranged to form different compartments guaranteeing the activities for which eukaryotic cells are programmed. Cell membranes, containing organelles, are isolated from cancer cells and erythrocytes and used to form biocompatible and long-circulating ghost nanoparticles delivering payloads or catalyzing enzymatic reactions as nanoreactors. In this attempt, red blood cell membranes were isolated from erythrocytes, and engineered to form nanoerythrosomes (NERs) of 150 nm. The horseradish peroxidase, used as an enzyme model, was loaded inside the aqueous compartment of NERs, and its catalytic reaction with Resorufin was monitored. The resulting nanoreactor protected the enzyme from proteolytic degradation, and potentiated the enzymatic reaction in situ as demonstrated by maximal velocity (V_max) and Michaelis constant (K_m), thus suggesting the high catalytic activity of nanoreactors compared to the pure enzymes.

Green synthesis of enzyme/metal-organic framework composites with high stability in protein denaturing solvents

OBJECTIVES

Enzyme/metal-organic framework composites with high stability in protein denaturing solvents were reported in this study.

RESULTS

Encapsulation of enzyme in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) via co-precipitation process was realized, and the generality of the synthesis was validated by using cytochrome c, horseradish peroxidase, and Candida antarctica lipase B as model enzymes. The stability of encapsulated enzyme was greatly increased after immobilization on MOFs. Remarkably, when exposed to protein denaturing solvents including dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethyl formamide, methanol, and ethanol, the enzyme/MOF composites still preserved almost 100% of activity. In contrast, free enzymes retained no more than 20% of their original activities at the same condition. This study shows the extraordinary protecting effect of MOF shell on increasing enzyme stability at extremely harsh conditions.

CONCLUSION

The enzyme immobilized in MOF exhibited enhanced thermal stability and high tolerance towards protein denaturing organic solvents.

Biomimetic Engineering Using Cancer Cell Membranes for Designing Compartmentalized Nanoreactors with Organelle-Like Functions

A new biomimetic nanoreactor design is presented based on cancer cell membrane material in combination with porous silicon nanoparticles. This cellular nanoreactor features a biocompartment enclosed by a cell membrane and readily integrated with cells and supplementing the cellular functions under oxidative stress. The study demonstrates the impact of the nanoreactors on improving cellular functions with a potential to serve as artificial organelles.

Positional immobilization of Pd nanoparticles and enzymes in hierarchical yolk–shell@shell nanoreactors for tandem catalysis

A hierarchical yolk–shell@shell nanoreactor that spatially positioned Pd nanoparticles and the CALB enzyme in separated domains is constructed, and served as an efficient bifunctional catalyst for the one-pot dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) reaction of 1-phenylethylamine with excellent activity and selectivity.

Polyhydroxamicalkanoate as a bioinspired acetylcholinesterase-based catalyst for acetylthiocholine hydrolysis and organophosphorus dephosphorylation: experimental studies and theoretical insights

A biomimetic polymer revealed a acetylcholinesterase-based performance.

Preparation of a magnetic responsive immobilized lipase–cellulose microgel catalyst system: role of the surface properties of the magnetic cellulose microgel

Surface modification of the magnetic cellulose particles has been conducted by using AEAPS, the modified magnetic cellulose particles were then used for the immobilization of lipase for catalysis reaction.