Immobilized and stabilized enzyme technology has advanced to
multidisciplinary fields such as clinical, industrial, and environmental
applications. Therefore, immobilized enzymes can be
utilized in biosnesor, antibiotic production, drug metabolism,
the food industry, biodiesel production, and bioremediation.
Table 4 describes the typical application of stabilized enzymes
using nano/microsized hybird materials.
Enzyme-based electrodes are a representative application of
immobilized enzymes for diagnosis and treatment of various diseases.
The high specificity and reactivity of immobilized enzymes
are being exploited in the biosensing field. These studies have resulting
in replacing existing diagnostic tools such as glucose test
strips, chromatography, mass spectroscopy, and enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assays with faster and cost effective diagnostic
devices [67]. These devices can be used to provide an early signal
of metabolic imbalances and assist in preventing and curing
diabetes and obesity [82].
Fine chemical synthesis processes for antibiotics such as
ß-lactam is a major challenge for industrial implementation.
Significant advancement has also been made in the resolution
of racemic mixtures by means of stereo-selective acylation/
hydrolysis using ß-lactam acylases [83]. Enzymatic production
of cephalexin using immobilized penicillinGacylase has also
been studied in detail [83]. Conversion of 7-amino-3-deacetoxy
cephalosporanic acid to cephalexin by immobilized peincillin
G acylase has been investigated with an 85% conversion yield under optimized conditions [84]. Furthermore, stabilized peincillin
G acylase can be reused for about 10 cycles. Production
of cefazolin by stabilized cefazolin synthetase from E. coli as a
biocatalyst is possible. Physico-chemical studies have made it
possible to design a highly efficient technological process to produce
cefazolin [8]. Synthesis of various antibiotics by different
enzymes immobilized on different supports has been achieved
[85, 86].