Photocatalytic multiphase micro-droplet reactors based on complex coacervation

Spontaneous sequestration of TiO2 nanosheets within coacervate micro-droplets is used to prepare membrane-free liquid multiphase micro-reactors with photocatalytic activity.</p

Multi-enzyme cascade reactions using protein-polymer surfactant self-standing films

Hierarchical self-assembly is used to fabricate bio-catalytically active, self-supporting protein-polymer surfactant films capable of sustaining two-or three-enzyme cascade reactions

Sequential Electrostatic Assembly of a Polymer Surfactant Corona Increases Activity of the Phosphotriesterase arPTE

We present a new methodology for the generation of discrete molecularly dispersed enzyme–polymer–surfactant bioconjugates. Significantly, we demonstrate that &gt;3-fold increase in the catalytic efficiency of the diffusion-limited phosphotriesterase arPTE can be achieved through sequential electrostatic addition of cationic and anionic polymer surfactants, respectively. Here, the polymer surfactants assemble on the surface of the enzyme via ion exchange to yield a compact corona. The observed rate enhancement is consistent with a mechanism whereby the polymer–surfactant corona gives rise to a decrease in the dielectric constant in the vicinity of the active site of the enzyme, accelerating the rate-determining product diffusion step. The facile methodology has significant potential for increasing the efficiency of enzymes and could therefore have a substantially positive impact for industrial enzymology

Three-Dimensional Printable Enzymatically Active Plastics

[Image: see text] Here, we describe a facile route to the synthesis of enzymatically active highly fabricable plastics, where the enzyme is an intrinsic component of the material. This is facilitated by the formation of an electrostatically stabilized enzyme–polymer surfactant nanoconstruct, which, after lyophilization and melting, affords stable macromolecular dispersions in a wide range of organic solvents. A selection of plastics can then be co-dissolved in the dispersions, which provides a route to bespoke 3D enzyme plastic nanocomposite structures using a wide range of fabrication techniques, including melt electrowriting, casting, and piston-driven 3D printing. The resulting constructs comprising active phosphotriesterase (arPTE) readily detoxify organophosphates with persistent activity over repeated cycles and for long time periods. Moreover, we show that the protein guest molecules, such as arPTE or sfGFP, increase the compressive Young’s modulus of the plastics and that the identity of the biomolecule influences the nanomorphology and mechanical properties of the resulting materials. Overall, we demonstrate that these biologically active nanocomposite plastics are compatible with state-of-the-art 3D fabrication techniques and that the methodology could be readily applied to produce robust and on-demand smart nanomaterial structures

Artificial cell membrane binding thrombin constructs drive in situ fibrin hydrogel formation

The incorporation of cells into tissue engineering scaffolds can be a major challenge. Here, the authors report on anchoring thrombin to cell membranes for the in situ formation of fibrin scaffolds around the modified cells, demonstrate scaffold formation in vitro and show cell survival in vivo