Enzymes become sturdy beads that could support more sustainable chemical production

What happened

A patent application has been filed for the technology. The results have been published in Advanced Materials.

Thanks to enzyme-based biocatalysis, an enormous range of pharmaceutical active ingredients and other complex molecules can be synthesized in an environmentally friendly manner. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now developed a technology that allows to assemble enzymes into millimeter-sized, storable beads.

In this process, the enzymes not only act as catalysts but also constitute the beads' material itself. In a further variant, the enzyme networks can be combined with living cells.