Immobilization of Candida rugosa lipase on magnetic sol–gel composite supports for enzymatic resolution of (R,S)-Naproxen methyl ester

Abstract In the present study, the Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) was encapsulated within a chemically inert sol–gel support prepared by polycondensation with tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and octyltriethoxysilane (OTES) in the presence and absence of magnetic Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles or sporopollenin with Fe 3 O 4 as additive. The catalytic properties of the immobilized lipases were evaluated through model reactions, i.e. the hydrolysis of p -nitrophenylpalmitate ( p -NPP), and the enantioselective hydrolysis of racemic Naproxen methyl ester that was studied in aqueous buffer solution/isooctane reaction system. The results indicate that the sporopollenin based encapsulated lipase (Fe 3 O 4 -Spo-E) particularly has higher conversion and enantioselectivity compared to the encapsulated lipase without supports (lipase-enc). It has also been noticed that the sporopollenin based encapsulated lipase has excellent enantioselectivity ( E  = >400) as compared to the free enzyme ( E  = 166) with an ee value of ∼98% for S -Naproxen.