Immobilization systems more frequently used are calcium alginate spheres. These biocatalysts have many potential applications in the immobilization of enzymes, prokaryotic cells, vegetal and animal cells, algae, organelles and mixtures of these living components. Other applications of immobilized cells imply the use of non aqueous systems. Some bioconversions are carried out in the presence of solvents such as hexane acetone or acetonitrile, or mixtures water-solvents. The aim of this work was to investigate the behaviour of Ca-alginate spheres when put in contact with different solvents (water, diesel, ethanol, methanol, acetone, n-hexane, isopropyl alcohol, THF, acetonitrile, and toluene), or solvent-water mixtures (i.e., ethanol-water), regarding the resistance of the alginate spheres after days of contact. Calcium alginate particles suffered different damages, depending on the solvent they were put in contact. Water did not damaged the Ca-alginate structure with or without Ca present. On the other hand different solvents lost a proportion of volume, i.e., n-hexane (16%), methanol (19%), ethanol (19.5%), toluene (22%), diesel (34%), acetone (765), isopropyl alcohol (80%), THF and acetonitrile (total loss, total destruction). Nor the dielectric constant nor the polarity indexes were capable of explaining the difference on the volume loss or total sphere destruction, except for water-ethanol mixtures
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.