Enzymes supported on ordered mesoporous solids: a special case of an inorganic-organic hybrid

The discovery in the late 1990s of ordered, high surface area silicas with pore sizes of 5 nm and above opened the way to the study of well-defined biomolecule-mesoporous silica hybrids. In particular, it has been possible to immobilize a range of small to medium size enzymes, such as proteases, lipases and peroxidases, via physisorption, encapsulation and tethering on the internal surfaces of the solids. Use has also been made of silicas functionalized for this purpose. In many cases the immobilized enzymes are both active and re-usable. Here we review the studies on enzymes immobilized on ordered mesoporous solids and assess the need for careful studies in real applications. Furthermore, we note the emerging applications of related biomolecule-mesoporous solid hybrids in other applications, such as intracellular drug delivery and transfection technology.