Development of Siliceous Ordered Mesoporous Materials as Supports for Lipases

Recent reports show that ordered mesoporous materials (OMM) are efficient as supports for the immobilization of enzymes. The advantageous textural, morphological and structural properties, the easy control of their parameters, and the interesting possibility of functionalizing the surface with a variety of organic groups, make them very promising supports for this application. We present in this mini-review a survey of our recent results on the use of different ordered mesoporous materials as supports for lipase. Related parameters are also studied and reviewed, namely size and shape of the pores (channel or cage/window) and the presence of hydrophobic groups on the pore surfaces. The procedure was conducted by grafting the siliceous materials with methyl groups through co-condensation. Two immobilization strategies were adopted: One is the post-synthesis approach, which is the immobilization on previously existing supports via electrostatic or hydrophobic interactions acting as the driving force that leads to immobilization. The other one is in situ approach, consisting of the entrapment of the enzyme within the inorganic matrix during its synthesis. Parameters like enzyme loading, catalytic activity, enzyme leaching or stability were studied for all the catalysts obtained. The relevance of the chemistry of surface and structure of the siliceous materials on the behavior and features of the catalysts obtained has been established.