Pickering Emulsions for (Bio)Catalysis
Particle stabilized emulsions, by definition Pickering Emulsions (PE), are biphasic media with unique properties such as simplicity of establishment, variability in composition, excellent mechanical and long term stability and straightforward downstream processing via filtration or freezing. Thus, they make highly interesting systems for technical synthesis. Nevertheless, industrial use of PEs is today restricted to non-reactive applications such as emulsification, extraction, provision of templates for nano- and micro-composite production and drug delivery.
In 2011, our working team demonstrated for the first time that PEs are promising systems for (bio-)synthesis with isolated enzymes. Using PEs of micrometer sized water droplets in non-water miscible organic solvents creates a huge catalytic surface area, minimizes mass transfer limitations and enables even the use of sensitive enzymes in the presence of organic solvents. By this project an insight into the influences of different ‘adjusting wheels’ for tailoring PEs towards biocatalysis and biotransformation via various enzyme classes are given.
Project partners:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Anja Drews
HTW Berlin
Department II - Life Science Engineering
Wilhelminenhofstr. 75 A
12459 Berlin
