Vitamin E (VE) has significant biological activities and thus its acylation to increase its stability is of extreme interest. We developed an efficient and sustainable approach using imidazolium-based ionic liquids as dual solvent-catalysts for the esterification between α-tocopherol (the most active form of VE) and succinic anhydride. Although in literature it is reported that lipase can catalyze this reaction, hereby we demonstrate that the reaction observed in DMSO and DMF is catalyzed by the histidyl residues of the protein. Histidine and its analogue containing an imidazole ring were tested as organocatalysts for the production of α-tocopherol succinate. In light of the imidazole organocatalysis, commercially-available 3-alkyl-1-methyl imidazolium ILs [C_nC₁Im][X⁻] were investigated as dual solvent-catalysts for the esterification of α-tocopherol with succinic anhydride, and provided satisfactory yields and reaction rates. [C₅C₁Im][NO₃ ⁻] can be recycled by water extraction, instead of organic solvent extraction to separate α-tocopherol succinate from [C₅C₁Im][NO₃ ⁻], with an average yield of 94.1% for 4 subsequent batches, while the catalytic activity of the recycled ILs showed almost no loss after 4 batches. The developed protocol for the synthesis of α-tocopherol esters and IL recycling bears industrial potential due to the ease of use and the efficient recycling.

The enhanced enzymatic activity and thermal stability of cutinase 1 fromThermobifida cellulosilyticaby enzyme engineering were utilized to achieve efficient degradation of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle particles.

The construction and catalytic application of multi-enzymatic systems have attracted much research attention. Herein, we demonstrate an effective approach for the construction of a glucose oxidase (GOX) and catalase (CAT) matrix via the supramolecular recognition of β-cyclodextrin (grafted to GOX) and adamantane (grafted to CAT). This forms a self-assembling multi-enzyme system (SAME) spontaneously after simple mixing. In the SAME, GOX activity and k_cat/K_m were 3.7 and 7 times greater than in the GOX/CAT mixture. Kinetic analysis indicated that the SAME improved catalysis because hydrogen peroxide was rapidly consumed by the adjacent CAT. Furthermore, the mixture and SAME was used to synthesize gluconic acid from glucose, the GOX/CAT SAME exhibited higher reaction rates than did the GOX/CAT mixtures at the same glucose concentrations; these differences were particularly noticeable at higher substrate glucose concentrations. These results suggest that SAMEs constructed by the method described herein might increase cascade reaction rates and be more suitable for high glucose concentrations.