Confining the Sol‐Gel Reaction at the Water/Oil Interface: Creating Compartmentalized Enzymatic Nano‐Organelles for Artificial Cells
Jenifer Pendiuk Gonçalves, Duangkamol Promlok, Tsvetomir Ivanov, Shijia Tao, Timo Rheinberger, Seong‐Min Jo, Yingjie Yu, Robert Graf, Manfred Wagner, Daniel Crespy, Frederik R. Wurm, Lucas Caire da Silva, Shuai Jiang, Katharina Landfester
Abstract
Living organisms compartmentalize their catalytic reactions in membranes for increased efficiency and selectivity. To mimic the organelles of eukaryotic cells, we develop a mild approach for in situ encapsulating enzymes in aqueous-core silica nanocapsules. In order to confine the sol-gel reaction at the water/oil interface of miniemulsion, we introduce an aminosilane to the silica precursors, which serves as both catalyst and an amphiphilic anchor that electrostatically assembles with negatively charged hydrolyzed alkoxysilanes at the interface. The semi-permeable shell protects enzymes from proteolytic attack, and allows the transport of reactants and products. The enzyme-carrying nanocapsules, as synthetic nano-organelles, are able to perform cascade reactions when enveloped in a polymer vesicle, mimicking the hierarchically compartmentalized reactions in eukaryotic cells. This in situ encapsulation approach provides a versatile platform for the delivery of biomacromolecules.