Catalase immobilized in polypeptide/silica nanocomposites via emulsion and biomineralization with improved activities.

Polypeptide-mediated silica mineralization is an attractive approach to prepare polypeptide/silica nanocomposites for enzyme immobilization. Herein, a facile approach for in situ immobilization of catalase (CAT) in polypeptide/silica nanocomposites is developed via the preparation of cross-linked polypeptide/enzyme microgels using an emulsion process followed by silica mineralization. The efficient protein immobilization under benign condition (25-28 °C, pH 7.

Green synthesis of gold nanoparticle/gelatin/protein nanogels with enhanced bioluminescence/biofluorescence.

Here we report the green synthesis of gelatin/protein hybrid nanogels containing gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) that collectively exhibit metal-enhanced luminescence/fluorescence (MEL/MEF). The gelatin/protein nanogels, prepared by genipin cross-linking of preformed gelatin/protein polyion complexes (PICs), exhibited sizes ranging between 50 and 200 nm, depending on the weight ratio of gelatin and protein. These nanogels serve as reducing and stabilizing agents for the AuNPs, allowing for nucleation in a gel network that exhibits colloidal stability and MEL/MEF.