Enzymatic reactions in confined environments

This Review discusses the fundamental challenges for making enzymatic reactions occur in surface- or volume-confined environments that may be suitable for technological applications in vitro and in vivo. Within each biological cell, surface- and volume-confined enzymes control a highly complex network of chemical reactions. These reactions are efficient, timely, and spatially defined. Efforts to transfer such appealing features to in vitro systems have led to several successful examples of chemical reactions catalysed by isolated and immobilized enzymes. In most cases, these enzymes are either bound or adsorbed to an insoluble support, physically trapped in a macromolecular network, or encapsulated within compartments. Advanced applications of enzymatic cascade reactions with immobilized enzymes include enzymatic fuel cells and enzymatic nanoreactors, both for in vitro and possible in vivo applications. In this Review, we discuss some of the general principles of enzymatic reactions confined on surfaces, at interfaces, and inside small volumes. We also highlight the similarities and differences between the in vivo and in vitro cases and attempt to critically evaluate some of the necessary future steps to improve our fundamental understanding of these systems.