Preparation and catalytic performance of lipases encapsulated in sol-gel materials.

Three kinds of lipases (from Candida antarctica, Pseudomonas cepacia, and Pseudomonas fluorescens) were encapsulated in inorganic matrices by the sol-gel method in order to synthesize chiral compounds by kinetic resolution. Sol-gel lipases prepared with vinyltriethoxysilane had higher hydrolysis activity for 2-octyl acetate than those with other silane precursors: tetramethoxysilane, methyltrimethoxysilane, and propyltrimethoxysilane.