Surfactants – the application in pharmaceutical biocatalysis

Abstract

Biocatalysis is one of the most commonly applied processes using enzymes. The modulation of biocatalytic reactions often requires the addition of molecules with various tendencies to behave in aqueous and/or non-aqueous media. Surfactants, as compounds containing both hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups in their structure, seem to be extremely useful in biotechnological, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. Surfactants can be divided based on their e.g. electrical charge (cationic, anionic, amphoteric, non-ionic) and/or chemical structure (cyclic, acyclic). These compounds were applied especially in reactions catalyzed by lipases, the enzymes characterized by high activity and stability. Thus, lipases, due to their unique properties (interfacial activation), are widely used in reactions with pharmaceutical significance. This review aimed to show the effect of surfactants on lipase activity, especially in various pharmaceutical reactions such as obtaining drugs or their building blocks. The participation of surfactants in the reactions catalyzed by 12 various lipases – lipase from Candida rugosa (CRL), lipase B from Candida antarctica (CALB), lipase from Burkholderia cepacia (BCL), Thermomyces lanuginosus (TLL), Pseudomonas fluorescens (PFL), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PAL), Pseudomonas stutzeri (PSL), Aspergillus oryzae (AOL), Aspergillus niger (ANL), Yarrowia lipolytica (YLL), Rhizomucor miehei (RML) and Fusarium oxysporum (FOL), has been described. The literature data showed the effect of applied surfactants on lipase activity. The positive effect of non-ionic Tween (20, 80) on the activity of most used lipases (CRL, CALB, BCL, PAL, PSL, AOL, ANL) has been presented. The application of non-ionic Triton X-100 in the reaction mixture has also beneficial impact on lipase activity (CALB, BCL, TLL, PFL, PSL, AOL, RML, FOL). On the other hand, ionic surfactants such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (anionic, SDS) showed various effects – the increase of RML activity, and decrease in CALB, TLL, PFL, and PSL activity have been observed. In turn, the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (cationic, CTAB/CTABr) positively influenced BCL, AOL, and ANL and negatively on CRL, TLL, PFL, PSL, and RML lipase activity. The effect of surfactant on lipase activity was dependent on the detergent structure and concentration and reaction conditions e.g. pH, and temperature. Therefore, surfactants are considered important components in developing catalytic systems.

Keywords

• surfactants
• lipase
• biocatalysis
• lipase activity