Enzyme immobilization on magnetic nanoparticle supports for enhanced separation and recycling of catalysts

Immobilized enzymes have many advantages over free enzymes, in particular the improvement of their stability, adaptability to organic media, and recyclability. There are a wide variety of support materials and immobilization methods available for immobilizing enzymes. Remarkably, magnetic supports have the additional advantages of magnetic properties, which further facilitate the recyclability of immobilized enzymes using an external magnetic field. More importantly, such improved separation is particularly attractive for more complex reaction systems involving enzymes, such as cofactor dependent systems and multi-enzyme, multistep cascade reactions. In this chapter, we introduce some available magnetic (nano)materials (including magnetite nanoparticles or SPIONs) and their magnetic properties. We also focus on the synthesis and functionalization of iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles for enzyme immobilization. Finally, several complex systems involving enzyme immobilization on magnetic supports are highlighted for discussion.