Enzyme immobilization on photopatterned temperature‐response poly (N‐isopropylacrylamide) for microfluidic biocatalysis

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUNDMicrofluidic chips have gained growing attention from the scientific community due to their large surface/interface area and fast mass transfer. However, their application is challenged by the instability of enzymes and time‐consuming catalytic process. Poly (N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) coupled with photopatterning technology was applied to immobilize an enzyme on the microchannel surface to realize the biotransformation in this study.RESULTSThe photopattern‐immobilized naringinase on a microchip achieved a yield of 93.63 ± 1.12% for isoquercitrin production within 5 min. The production of unit time per unit enzyme (g g−1 h−1) increased 2.1‐fold whereas the reaction time decreased to 1/12 of the time required in a batch reactor. The enzyme was absorbed and desorbed at 40 and 25 °C, respectively, and the release efficiency of immobilized naringinase reached 80.57%, indicating that most of the enzymes were replaced with fresh enzymes to proceed each enzymatic reaction. Six cycles of enzymatic hydrolysis reactions were completed successively, maintaining >60% of relative enzymatic activity.CONCLUSIONThe results indicated that using the immobilized enzyme on the photopatterned PNIPAAm in the enzymatic hydrolysis of rutin was an efficient and simple way to achieve a high yield of isoquercitrin. Thus, this approach represents a convenient and cost‐saving method to produce fine chemicals using microfluidic biocatalysis. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry