The microbial epoxidation of propene and 1-butene was used to study some fundamental aspects of two-liquid-phase biocatalytic conversions. Introduction of a water-immiscible organic solvent phase in a free-cell suspension gave rise to a series of undesired phenomena, e.g., inactivation by the solvent, clotting of biomass, and aggregation of cells at the liquid-liquid interface. Immobilization of the cells in hydrophilic gels, e.g., calcium alginate, prevented direct cell-organic solvent contact and the related clotting and aggregation of biomass. However, the gel entrapment did not seem to provide additional protection against the organic solvent. The influence of various organic solvents on the retention of immobilized-cell activity was related to solvent properties like the polarity (as expressed by the Hildebrand solubility parameter) and the molecular size (as expressed by the molecular weight or molar volume). High activity retention was favored by a low polarity in combination with a high molecular weight. The solubility parameter also proved useful to describe the capacity of various organic solvents for oxygen and alkene oxides. This facilitated the optimization of the solvent polarity.

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