Zhongli Lei

Fe3O4/SiO2-g-PSStNa polymer nanocomposite microspheres (PNCMs) from a surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) approach for pectinase immobilization.

Polymer nanocomposite microspheres (PNCMs) as solid supports can improve the efficiency of immobilized enzymes by reducing diffusional limitation as well as by increasing the surface area per mass unit. In this work, pectinase was immobilized on Fe(3)O(4)/SiO2-g-poly(PSStNa) nanocomposite microspheres by covalent attachment. Biochemical studies showed an improved storage stability of the immobilized pectinase as well as enhanced performance at higher temperatures and over a wider pH range. The immobilized enzyme retained >50% of its initial activity over 30 days, and the optimum temperature and pH also increased to the ranges of 50-60 degrees C and 3.0-4.7, respectively. The kinetics of a model reaction catalyzed by the immobilized pectinase was finally investigated by the Michaelis-Menten equation. The PSStNa support presents a very simple, mild, and time-saving process for enzyme immobilization, and this strategy of immobilizing pectinase also makes use of expensive enzymes economically viable, strengthening repeated use of them as catalysts following their rapid and easy separation with a magnet.

Silicon dioxide hollow microspheres with porous composite structure: synthesis and characterization.

In this paper, a strategy for hollow porous silica microspheres with ideally flower structure is presented. SiO(2)/PAM hybrid composite microspheres with porous were synthesized by the reaction that the porous polyacrylamide (PAM) micro-gels immersed in tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) anhydrous alcohol solution and water in a moist atmosphere, with ammonium hydroxide as a catalyst. The SiO(2) hollow microspheres with porous were obtained after calcination of the composite microspheres at 550 °C for 4 h. The morphology, composition, and crystalline structure of the microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FI-IR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), N(2) absorption analysis, respectively. The results indicated that the obtained hollow porous SiO(2) microspheres were a perfect flower structure.