Effects of Surfactant on Solubility and Microbial Conversion of Steroid

Enhancing the dispersion and dissolution of substrate particles in substrate/water suspension is a feasible way to improve steroid bioconversion. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of applying surfactant to microbial conversion system on the dispersion, solubilization and in turn bioconversion of steroid substrate. The model system is hydroxylation of substrate 16α-,17α-epoxy-4-pregnene-3,20-dine by microbial enzymes from Rhizopus nigricanl. The results show that the presence of substrate leads to an increase in critical micelle concentration (CMC) of surfactant PSE compared with the normal CMC of PSE in aqueous solution. The grinding time during substrate suspension preparation affects the substrate aqueous solubility differently with the varied surfactant concentrations while barely making any difference in substrate solubility in the absence of surfactant. The properly prolonged grinding time can make up for the loss in substrate solubility arising from the reduction in surfactant concentration. The surfactant complexes composed of surfactants PSE and MGE at appropriate ratios are screened out with orthodoxy experiment method, the interaction between PSE and MGE exerts the most prominent effects on substrate bioconversion, and the surfactant complexes show more beneficial effects on steroid bioconversion than the surfactant PSE used alone.