Immobilized enzymes and their implications

Abstract

The main goal of enzyme immobilization is the re-use of enzymes for many reaction cycles and extended periods of time. Many novel strategies were developed during the last 20 years. The most common are thec arrier-bound technologies employing synthetic and natural polymers, but also carrier-free enzyme immobilization using chemical crosslinking techniques are being developed for complex biocatalytic systems. Among matrices, biopolymers represent trendy scaffolds for enzyme immobilization, particularly the new development of matrices made of chitosan and its derivatives is revisited.In addition, recent advances in nanotechnologies are bringing novel tools to understand the interaction between enzyme and their potential carriers, and to obtain novel nanodevices tailored for specific enzymes.Examples of matrices made of carbon nanotubes, lipid vesicles, mesoporous materials, nanosheets are reviewed in the present work.