Recent advances of enzymatic reactions in ionic liquids

Muhammad Moniruzzaman, Kazunori Nakashima, Noriho Kamiya, Masahiro Goto

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

413 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The tremendous potential of room temperature ionic liquids as an alternative to environmentally harmful ordinary organic solvents is well recognized. Ionic liquids, having no measurable vapor pressure, are an interesting class of tunable and designer solvents, and they have been used extensively in a wide range of applications including enzymatic biotransformation. In fact, ionic liquids can be designed with different cation and anion combinations, which allow the possibility of tailoring reaction solvents with specific desired properties, and these unconventional solvent properties of ionic liquids provide the opportunity to carry out many important biocatalytic reactions that are impossible in traditional solvents. As compared to those observed in conventional organic solvents, the use of enzymes in ionic liquids has presented many advantages such as high conversion rates, high enantioselectivity, better enzyme stability, as well as better recoverability and recyclability. To date, a wide range of pronounced approaches have been taken to further improve the performance of enzymes in ionic liquids. This review presents the recent technological developments in which the advantages of ionic liquids as a medium for enzymes have been gradually realized.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)295-314
Number of pages20
JournalBiochemical Engineering Journal
Volume48
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 15 2010

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Biotechnology
  • Bioengineering
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Biomedical Engineering

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