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Updated: Jan 20, 2026

Confocal Imaging of Confined Quiescent and Flowing Colloid-polymer Mixtures
Published on: May 20, 2014
Polymeric Janus Colloids Enable a New Paradigm of Spatially Confined Enzymes in Pickering Interfacial Catalysis
Siga Jia1, Zishan Tu1, Liangzhi Hong1
1School of Materials Science and Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Luminescence from Molecular Aggregates, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
Abstract:
Precise spatial confinement of enzymes at oil-water interfaces offers an elegant strategy to enhance biphasic catalysis yet achieving robust and recyclable interfacial assemblies remains challenging. Here, we introduce an amphiphilic polymeric Janus particle platform that enables lipases to preferentially localize at interfaces, thereby achieving efficient Pickering interfacial catalysis (PIC). Crosslinked poly(hydroxypropyl methacrylate) colloids bearing surface carboxylic acid groups were synthesized via RAFT-mediated heterogeneous copolymerization and further transformed into snowman-shaped Janus particles through seeded emulsion polymerization. The resulting amphiphilic Janus colloids possess distinct hydrophilic-hydrophobic domains that facilitate both enzyme anchoring and emulsion stabilization. Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) immobilized on these particles exhibited strong interfacial activity, achieving enhanced catalytic efficiency, thermal stability, and recyclability compared to free CRL. The present work suggests that enzyme immobilization on Janus colloids is a promising approach to advance next-generation PIC.
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Catalysis is among the most important fields of modern technology and presently accounts for approximately 35% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and sustenance of approximately 33% of the global population through fertilizers produced via the Haber process.1 Catalysts are systems that facilitate chemical reactions by lowering the activation energy and influencing the selectivity. Catalysis will be a central technology in...
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Catalysis
Colloids
