物理化学および生物物理学ジャーナル
オープンアクセス

概要

Spectrochemical Behavior of Enzymes Encapsulated within Xerogel

Maximillian P Baria, Eric Nguyen, Samantha J Pace, Robert L Marvin and Elmer-Rico E Mojica

There are many methods that have been used in the encapsulation or immobilization of enzymes. One of them is the sol-gel process, which can be used to produce porous silica materials even at ambient temperature. In this study, several enzymes, namely catalase, lipase, laccase, and glucose oxidase were encapsulated by sol-gel process using tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS) as alkoxide. The behavior of the enzymes encapsulated within the gel matrix, or xerogel, was monitored by fluorescence to determine the spectrochemical behavior of the enzymes. The results were compared with the enzymes in solution form. There are minor differences between the spectra in different matrices (xerogel and solution), which can only means that there are conformational changes in enzymes when they were immobilized within the gel matrix.