Synthesis and characterization of nanoporous silica support for enzyme immobilization

Nanoporous silica suitable for enzyme support was synthesized via a salt route and the pore morphology in the silica was characterized. Then, Glutaryl-7-ACA acylase—the enzyme for the bioconversion process to synthesize an antibiotic—was immobilized and the enzyme activity was investigated in relation to the pore morphology. It became clear that the activity of the enzyme was influenced to a great extent by the pore size and there existed an optimum pore size that lead to the maximum activity of the enzyme. In this study, the optimum pore size (diameter) was found to be 60.9 nm at which the enzyme activity was maximized to 97 units/g.