Molecular Decoration of Ceramic Supports for Highly Effective Enzyme Immobilization—Material Approach

• Published in: Materials
• Main Authors: Joanna Kujawa, Marta Głodek, Izabela Koter, Borys Ośmiałowski, Katarzyna Knozowska, Samer Al-Gharabli, Ludovic Dumée, Wojciech Kujawski
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2021
• Subjects: surface modification; organic spacer; enzyme immobilization; Candida antarctica lipase B; ceramic membranes; alumina oxide; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14010201

A highly effective method was developed to functionalize ceramic supports (Al2O3 powders and membranes) using newly synthesized spacer molecules. The functionalized materials were subsequently utilized for Candida antarctica lipase B enzyme immobilization. The objective is to systematically evaluate the impact of various spacer molecules grafted onto the alumina materials will affect both the immobilization of the enzymes and specific material surface properties, critical to enzymatic reactors performance. The enzyme loading was significantly improved for the supports modified with shorter spacer molecules, which possessed higher grafting effectiveness on the order of 90%. The specific enzyme activity was found to be much higher for samples functionalized with longer modifiers yielding excellent enantioselectivity >97%. However, the enantiomeric ratio of the immobilized lipase was slightly lower in the case of shorter spacer molecules.