Lorena Wilson

Hierarchical meso-macroporous silica grafted with glyoxyl groups: opportunities for covalent immobilization of enzymes

Hierarchical meso-macroporous silica (average mesopore diameter 20 nm) was synthesized and chemically modified to be used as a support for the immobilization of lipases from Candida antarctica B and Alcaligenes sp. and β-galactosidases from Bacillus circulans and Aspergillus oryzae. Catalytic activities and thermal stabilities of enzymes immobilized by multipoint covalent attachment in silica derivatized with glyoxyl groups were compared with those immobilized in glyoxyl-agarose, assessing biocatalyst performance under non-reactive conditions in aqueous medium. In the case of A. oryzae β-galactosidase and Alcaligenes sp. lipase, an additional step of amination was needed to improve immobilization yield. Specific activities of lipases immobilized in glyoxyl-silica were high (232 and 62 IU per gram, for C. antarctica B and Alcaligenes sp. respectively); thermal stabilities were higher than those immobilized in glyoxyl-agarose. Although in the case of β-galactosidases from B. circulans and A. oryzae, the specific activities (250 and 310 IU per gram, respectively) were lower than the ones obtained with glyoxyl-agarose, expressed activities were similar to values previously reported. Thermal stabilities of both β-galactosidases immobilized in glyoxyl-silica were higher than when glyoxyl-agarose was used as support. Results indicate that hierarchical meso-macroporous silica is a versatile support for the production of robust biocatalysts.

Synthesis of Cephalexin in Aqueous Medium with Carrier-bound and Carrier-free Penicillin Acylase Biocatalysts

The use of very high substrate concentrations favors the kinetically controlled synthesis of cephalexin with penicillin acylase (PA) not only by Michaelian considerations, but also because water activity is depressed, so reducing the rates of the competing reactions of product and acyl donor hydrolysis. Commercial PGA-450, glyoxyl agarose immobilized (PAIGA) and carrier-free cross-linked enzyme aggregates of penicillin acylase (PACLEA) were tested in aqueous media at concentrations close to the solubility of nucleophile and at previously determined enzyme to nucleophile and acid donor to nucleophile ratios. The best temperature and pH were determined for each biocatalyst based on an objective function considering conversion yield, productivity, and enzyme stability as evaluation parameters. Stability was higher with PAIGA and specific productivity higher with PACLEA, but best results based on such objective function were obtained with PGA-450. Yields were stoichiometric and productivities higher than those previously reported in organic medium, which implies significant savings in terms of costs and environmental protection. At the optimum conditions for the selected biocatalyst, operational stability was determined in sequential batch reactor operation. The experimental information gathered is being used for a technical and economic evaluation of an industrial process for enzymatic production of cephalexin in aqueous medium.

Heterogeneous Enzyme Kinetics

Because of their excellent functional properties (activity, selectivity, specificity), enzymes have a great potential as industrial catalysts in a number of areas of chemical industry: fine chemistry, food chemistry, analysis and so on (Koeller and Wong 2001). However, the enzymes have been modified during evolution to optimize their behavior in the framework of complex catalytic chains inside the living cells under stress and subjected to regulation. Obviously, enzymes have not been optimized by evolution in order to work as catalysts in industrial reactors so that some of their properties are not well suited for that purpose: they are water soluble, unstable at conditions different from physiological, frequently inhibited by substrates and products of reaction and have rather narrow substrate specificity. In most cases, enzymes have to be greatly improved for their application as industrial catalysts. The engineering of enzymes for such purpose is one of the most exciting, complex and interdisciplinary goals of biotechnology, considering different techniques like: a) the screening, inside the biodiversity, of enzymes with improved properties; b) the improvement of enzyme properties via techniques of molecular biology; c) the improvement of enzyme properties via immobilization and post-immobilization techniques; d) the improvement of enzyme properties via reaction and reactor engineering. These techniques complement each other to succeed in improving enzyme properties for delivering catalysts for a much more sustainable chemical industry, where very complex and useful compounds are synthesized under very mild and cost-effective conditions.

Simple strategy of reactivation of a partially inactivated penicillin g acylase biocatalyst in organic solvent and its impact on the synthesis of β‐lactam antibiotics

Some reactions of organic synthesis require to be performed in rather aggressive media, like organic solvents, that frequently impair enzyme operational stability to a considerable extent. We have studied the option of developing a reactivation strategy to increase biocatalyst lifespan under such conditions, under the hypothesis that organic solvent enzyme inactivation is a reversible process. Glyoxyl agarose immobilized penicillin G acylase and cross‐linked enzyme aggregates of the enzyme were considered as biocatalysts performing in dioxane medium. Reactivation strategy consisted in re‐incubation in aqueous medium of the partly inactivated biocatalysts in organic medium, best conditions of reactivation being studied with respect to dioxane concentration and level of enzyme inactivation attained prior to reactivation. Best results were obtained with glyoxyl agarose immobilized penicillin G acylase at all levels of residual activity studied, with reactivations up to 50%; for the case of a biocatalyst inactivated down to 75% of its initial activity, full recovery of enzyme activity was obtained after reactivation. The potential of this strategy was evaluated in the thermodynamically controlled synthesis of deacetoxycephalosporin G in a sequential batch reactor operation, where a 20% increase in the cumulative productivity was obtained by including an intermediate stage of reactivation after 50% inactivation. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009;103: 472–479.

In situ immobilization of β‐galactosidase from Bacillus circulans in silica by sol‐gel process: Application in prebiotic synthesis

The enzyme encapsulation is a very well‐known stabilization pathway. However, there are some challenges in order to avoid the enzyme denaturation under encapsulation conditions. The β‐galactosidase from Bacillus circulans was immobilized through sol‐gel encapsulation route assisted by Triton X‐100 surfactant and sugars. The effects of sugar presence in the immobilization process and the gelation time on the biocatalyst activity/stability were explained taking into account the characteristics of the formed silica matrix and the changes of the enzyme environment. The enzyme was effectively immobilized by this strategy, with high immobilization yield in terms of activity (29%) and expressed activity (47 IU/g). The immobilization through silica sol‐gel in the presence of 1×10−3 M Triton X‐100 and fructose conferred 28.4‐fold higher stability to the enzyme compared with the soluble form. This is an advantage for its use in the synthesis of the galacto‐oligosaccharides at 50ºC. The total lactose conversion to galacto‐oligosaccharides was 26%wt, which is comparable with that reported in the literature. The obtained biocatalyst is useful for the synthesis of galacto‐oligosaccharides and its catalytic behavior is rationalized in this work.

Selective and eco-friendly synthesis of lipoaminoacid-based surfactants for food, using immobilized lipase and protease biocatalysts

Lipoaminoacids, as surfactants, are an excellent option for food industry due to the currently trends in consumption of functional and natural ingredients. Synthesis of lauroyl glycine lipoaminoacid was carried out with a lipase from Pseudomonas stutzeri and a protease from Bacillus subtilis, which were immobilized in octyl-glyoxyl silica and glyoxyl-silica supports, respectively, comparing their catalytic performance. The enzymatic selectivity towards the lipoaminoacid instead of the dipeptide glycylglycine and synthesis yield were evaluated with respect to the characteristics of the immobilized biocatalysts and synthesis conditions. Three solvents were tested as reaction media for evaluating the expressed activity, stability and catalytic behavior during synthesis. Results indicate that both enzymes favor the lauroyl glycine synthesis over the peptide synthesis, but the immobilized protease has the best balance between selectivity and yield: 40% yield for lauroyl glycine and less than 5% for dipeptide after 96h of synthesis, at 45°C and acetone as solvent.

Batch reactor performance for the enzymatic synthesis of cephalexin: influence of catalyst enzyme loading and particle size

A mathematical model is presented for the kinetically controlled synthesis of cephalexin that describes the heterogeneous reaction-diffusion process involved in a batch reactor with glyoxyl-agarose immobilized penicillin acylase. The model is based on equations considering reaction and diffusion components. Reaction kinetics was considered according to the mechanism proposed by Schroën, while diffusion of the reacting species was described according to Ficks law. Intrinsic kinetic and diffusion parameters were experimentally determined in independent experiments. It was found that from the four kinetic constants, the one corresponding to the acyl-enzyme complex hydrolysis step had the greatest value, as previously reported by other authors. The effective diffusion coefficients of all substances were about 5×10(-10)m(2)/s, being 10% lower than free diffusion coefficients and therefore agreed with the highly porous structure of glyoxyl-agarose particles. Simulations made from the reaction-diffusion model equations were used to evaluate and analyze the impact of internal diffusional restrictions in function of catalyst enzyme loading and particle size. Increasing internal diffusional restrictions decreases the Cex synthesis/hydrolysis ratio, the conversion yield and the specific productivity. A nonlinear relationship between catalyst enzyme loading and specific productivity of Cex was obtained with the implication that an increase in catalyst enzyme loading will not increase the volumetric productivity by the same magnitude as it occurs with the free enzyme. Optimization of catalyst and reactor design should be done considering catalyst enzyme loading and particle size as the most important variables. The approach presented can be extended to other processes catalyzed by immobilized enzymes.

Comparative study of the enzymatic synthesis of cephalexin at high substrate concentration in aqueous and organic media using statistical model

Synthesis of cephalexin with immobilized penicillin acylase at high substrates concentration at an acyl donor to nucleophile molar ratio of 3 was comparatively evaluated in aqueous and ethylene glycol media using a statistical model. Variables under study were temperature, pH and enzyme to substrate ratio and their effects were evaluated on cephalexin yield, ratio of initial rates of cephalexin synthesis to phenylglycine methyl ester hydrolysis, volumetric and specific productivity of cephalexin synthesis, that were used as response parameters. Results obtained in both reaction media were modeled using surface of response methodology and optimal operation conditions were determined in terms of an objective function based on the above parameters. At very high substrates concentrations the use of organic co-solvents was not required to attain high yields and actually almost stoichiometric yields were obtained in a fully aqueous media with the advantages of higher productivities than in an organic co-solvent media and compliance with the principles of green chemistry.

Immobilization of lipases in hydrophobic chitosan for selective hydrolysis of fish oil: The impact of support functionalization on lipase activity, selectivity and stability.

The objective of this paper was to carry out an integral study of the use of hydrophobic chitosan as a low-cost support for immobilizing lipases and their further application in the selective hydrolysis of fish oil. Chitosan functionalized with different alkyl chains (C4, C8, C12) were characterized by FTIR, TGA, SEM, and Rose Bengal adsorption. Lipase B from Candida antarctica (CalB) and lipase from Rhizomucor miehei (RML) were immobilized obtaining a higher expressed activity at a longer alkyl chain length of support. Biocatalyst thermal stability showed that the impact of the alkyl chain length on enzyme stabilization varied according to the lipase source. The biocatalysts were applied in menhaden oil hydrolysis. Total polyunsaturated fatty acids released after 30 h of reaction with lipases immobilized in butyl, octyl and dodecyl-chitosan was 60, 107, and 90 mM for CalB biocatalysts, and 560, 392, and 50 mM for RML biocatalysts, respectively. Selectivity of CalB was not affected by the alkyl chain, while in the case of RML, a higher selectivity to cis-4,7,10,13,16,19-docohexaenoic acid release was obtained with dodecyl-chitosan. In conclusion, the adequate functionalization of chitosan varied according to lipase source, affecting their activity, stability and performance in the hydrolysis of fish oil.

Synthesis of the kyotorphin precursor benzoyl-L-tyrosine-L-argininamide with immobilized α-chymotrypsin in sequential batch with enzyme reactivation.

α‐Chymotrypsin was immobilized in activated agarose support and the stability of the biocatalyst was assessed in three polar organic solvents, namely, ethanol, diglyme, and acetonitrile. Ethanol was the solvent in which the stability of the enzyme was higher and was then selected to perform the synthesis of the kyotorphin derivative benzoyl‐tyrosine argininamide, evaluating enzyme reactivation after synthesis. Substrates for reaction were benzoyl tyrosine ethyl ester and argininamide, the reaction being performed under kinetic control. High conversion yield (85%) was obtained and the immobilized enzyme was successfully used in sequential batch reactor operation with enzyme reactivation after three batches.