Klyachko N L, Levashov A V, Pshezhetsky A V, Bogdanova N G, Berezin I V, Martinek K
Eur J Biochem. 1986 Nov 17;161(1):149-54. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1986.tb10135.x.
Instead of aqueous solutions, universally recognized in enzymology, ternary systems of the water/organic solvent/surfactant type are suggested as liquid-crystalline media for enzymatic reactions. Two systems, water/octane/Aerosol OT and water/cyclohexane/Brij 96, have been used to solubilize acid and alkaline phosphatases and peroxidase. The enzymes under study do function in liquid-crystalline mesophases having lamellar, cylindrical (reversed hexagonal) and ball-shaped (reversed cubic) packing of the surfactant molecules. A significant result is that the phase transition from one liquid-crystalline structure to another entails, as a rule, a reversible change in the catalytic activity of the solubilized enzyme.
