Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, P. R. China.
School of Life Sciences, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang, P. R. China.
Sci Adv. 2020 Jan 29;6(5):eaax5785. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aax5785. eCollection 2020 Jan.
Mimicking the cellular environment, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising for encapsulating enzymes for general applications in environments often unfavorable for native enzymes. Markedly different from previous researches based on bulk solution synthesis, here, we report the synthesis of enzyme-embedded MOFs in a microfluidic laminar flow. The continuously changed concentrations of MOF precursors in the gradient mixing on-chip resulted in structural defects in products. This defect-generating phenomenon enables multimodal pore size distribution in MOFs and therefore allows improved access of substrates to encapsulated enzymes while maintaining the protection to the enzymes. Thus, the as-produced enzyme-MOF composites showed much higher (~one order of magnitude) biological activity than those from conventional bulk solution synthesis. This work suggests that while microfluidic flow synthesis is currently underexplored, it is a promising strategy in producing highly active enzyme-MOF composites.
模拟细胞环境，金属-有机框架（MOFs）有望用于封装酶，以在通常不利于天然酶的环境中进行一般应用。与以前基于体相溶液合成的研究明显不同的是，在这里，我们报告了在微流层流中合成酶嵌入的 MOFs。在芯片上的梯度混合中，MOF 前体的浓度不断变化，导致产物中出现结构缺陷。这种产生缺陷的现象使得 MOFs 具有多模态的孔径分布，从而允许底物更有效地进入封装的酶，同时保持对酶的保护。因此，所生产的酶-MOF 复合材料的生物活性比传统体相溶液合成的高得多（约一个数量级）。这项工作表明，虽然微流控流合成目前尚未得到充分探索，但它是生产高活性酶-MOF 复合材料的一种很有前途的策略。
