Surface Modification of Magnetic ZIF-90 Nanoparticles Improves the Microenvironment of Immobilized Lipase and Its Application in Esterification

Interactions of enzymes with supports significantly affect the activity and stability of immobilized enzymes. Herein, amino-functionalized ionic liquid (IL)-grafted magnetic zeolitic imidazolate framework-90 (MZIF-90) was prepared and used to immobilize porcine pancreatic lipase (PPL). The nanocomposites were fully characterized; meanwhile, the interactions between ILs and ZIF-90 were calculated based on density functional theory. The prepared biocatalyst (PPL-ILs/MZIF-90) had a lipase loading of 178.3 mg/g and hydrolysis activity up to 287.5 U/g. When the biocatalyst was used to synthesize isoamyl acetate, the reaction media, molar ratio of alcohol/acid, temperature, and reaction time were optimized. Under the optimized reaction conditions (in hexane, alcohol/acid = 3:1, under 45 °C, reacted for 9 h), the ester yield reached 85.5%. The results of the stability test showed that PPL-ILs/MZIF-90 retained 88.7% of the initial activity after storing for 35 days and 92.5% of the initial activity after reusing for seven cycles for synthesizing isoamyl acetate. Moreover, the secondary structure analysis showed that the synthesized supports protected the active conformation of immobilized lipase, which lead to the enhanced catalytic performance. Additionally, the biocatalyst can be easily separated with a magnet, which facilitated the reusability. This study provides insights regarding the application of metal organic framework composites in the field of enzyme catalysis.