Enzymes Hosted in Reverse Micelles in Hydrocarbon Solution

Reverse micelles are spheroidal aggregates formed by certain surfactants in apolar media. In contrast to normal micelles in water, the polar head groups of the surfactant molecules are directed towards the interior of the aggregate and form a polar core which can solubilize water (the “water pool”); the lipophilic chains are exposed to the solvent. The water of the water pool exhibits properties that (depending on the mole ratio of water to surfactant) differ from those of bulk water. Surprisingly, these reverse micelles are able to solubilize in hydrocarbon solvents hydrophilic molecules, e.g., enzymes and even plasmids, that are much larger than the original water‐pool diameter. These biopolymer‐containing reverse micelles can be viewed as novel microreactors, whose physical properties can be controlled through the water content. Remarkable is the ability of enzyme‐containing micelles to react with water‐insoluble, hydrocarbon‐soluble substrates, as in the example of lipoxygenase with linoleic acid.