A simple and high-performance cellulose nanocrystal based biocatalytic Pickering emulsion system for pharmaceutical molecule vitamin E nicotinate

The use of Pickering emulsions for biocatalysis is gaining increased attention. However, the extensive application is greatly limited due to the enzyme inactivation. Herein, a biocatalytic Pickering emulsion with high-performance utilizing cellulose nanocrystals immobilized lipases (CNCs-Lps) particles as stabilizer is advanced and applied for the synthesis of Vitamin E nicotinate. CNCs-Lps display high activity and reusability due to the construction of biocatalytic microreactor in the O/W emulsion system. The yield of vitamin E nicotinate ester reached up to 83 %. More importantly, the CNCs-Lps can be reused due to the similar principles to microreactors in Pickering emulsions. Reusability test showed that the CNCs-Lps could be recovered from the emulsion system by centrifugation and the yield of vitamin E nicotinate retains 78 % of initial value after five cycles, demonstrating overwhelming advantage than the fair counterpart with free lipases.