Pressure effects on enzyme reactions in mainly organic media: alpha-chymotrypsin in reversed micelles of Aerosol OT in octane.

Biocatalytic transformations in reversed micelles formed by anionic surfactant Aerosol OT in octane have been studied at high pressures by an example of alpha-chymotrypsin-catalyzed hydrolysis of N-carbobenzoxy-L-tyrosine p-nitrophenyl ester and N-succinyl-L-phenylalanine p-nitroanilide. For the first time it has been found that the enzyme retains high activity in these water-in-oil microemulsions up to a pressure of 2 kbar. The value of the activation volume (delta V*) for the enzyme reactions shows a dependence on the water content in the system. When the size of the micellar aqueous inner cavity (as evaluated at 1 atm) approaches the molecular size of alpha-chymotrypsin, delta V* becomes significantly different from the value in aqueous solution and in the micelles with a larger size. Possibilities of regulating the enzyme activity by pressure in systems with a low content of water are discussed.