Phosphotungstic acid impregnated niobium coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as recyclable catalyst for selective isomerization of terpenes.

Conversion efficiency as high as 80-100% and 50% selectivity for camphene and limonene was achieved with low production of polymeric byproducts (18-28%), easy recovery with a magnet and reuse for up to five cycles maintaining similar activity and distribution of products, using a new magnetically recyclable catalyst based on niobium oxide coated on superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) impregnated with phosphotungstic acid (HPW). The catalyst was demonstrated to be effective in the selective conversion of alpha and beta-pinenes into valuable terpenes, under ultrasonic probe activation and with toluene as solvent. A unique synergic effect between the components generating more active and selective catalytic sites was demonstrated, indicating that the SPION covered with 30 wt% of NbO gives the best performance when impregnated with HPW as co-catalyst.

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) conjugated with lipase A for biodiesel synthesis.

Biodiesel is an alternative biodegradable and non-toxic fuel, with a low emission profile and capable of reducing significantly the level of carcinogenic pollutants released into the atmosphere. A newly designed nano-biocatalyst prepared by conjugation of lipase A on superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) demonstrated high efficiency for production of biodiesel by the reaction of soybean oil with anhydrous methanol. The nanomaterial was characterized by FTIR, TGA and XRD, and its enzymatic activity compared with Lipozyme 435, a commercial gold standard from Novozyme™, which presented average enzymatic activity of 4559 ± 75 only twice as large as that of the SPION-CAL-A catalyst (2283 ± 249 PLU g), whereas Lipozyme TLIM showed a much lower activity of 588 ± 16 PLU g.

Purification of glucose oxidase from Aspergillus niger by liquid-liquid cationic reversed micelles extraction.

The aim of this work was to select the operating conditions for the extraction and recovery of glucose oxidase (GOX) by reversed micelles from mixtures of commercial enzyme and Aspergillus niger homogenates. For this purpose, the influence of the main operating parameters (pH, surfactant concentration, and presence of cell debris or not) on GOX extraction was investigated at 25 degrees C. Without cell debris, the highest yield of GOX activity recovery (90.

Liquid-liquid extraction of commercial glucose oxidase by reversed micelles.

Aim of this work was to establish the optimum operating conditions for the extraction and recovery by cationic reversed micelles of commercial glucose oxidase (GOX) from Aspergillus niger, in view of possible application to raw cell homogenates. The influence of pH, temperature, electric conductivity and solvent/co-solvents ratio on the extraction was investigated by a fractional factorial design of 2(3-1) type, conjugated with a mixture experimental design, using the residual enzyme activity to evaluate the results. The best conditions for GOX extraction were ensured using isooctane as solvent and hexanol and butanol as co-solvents at 76/6/18 volume ratio, pH 6.