Enzyme encapsulation in zeolitic imidazolate frameworks: a comparison between controlled co-precipitation and biomimetic mineralisation

Recent studies have demonstrated that metal-organic frameworks can be employed as protective coatings for enzymes. Two efficient strategies have been reported for the synthesis of such composite materials: biomimetic mineralisation and controlled co-precipitation using polyvinylpyrrolidone. We assessed the relative efficacy of each approach by comparing the thermal stability of encapsulated urease. The resulting data shows that over a range of temperatures biomimetic mineralisation offers superior protection than the co-precipitation method.