Immobilization of Proteases on Nanoflower-Like Metal Organic Framework

Proteases have been widely used in pharmaceutics and industry, and an economic, convenient and robust procedure for protease immobilization is of high interest. In this study, we report immobilization of proteases by the nanoflower-like zeolitic imidazole framework (nfZIF). Using trypsin, protease K, and Glu-C as model enzymes, we show nfZIF represents an excellent material for protease immobilization, and the resulting protease@nfZIF composites exhibit activities comparable to or even higher than the free proteases in solution. The protease@nfZIF composites are stable in high temperature and organic solvents, and retain almost fully active after several reaction cycles. Our studies demonstrate the great potential of nfZIF in the immobilization of proteases, which could be of interest in various industrial applications.