Tuning mechanical characteristics and permeability of polyvinyl alcohol-alginate hydrogels by natural deep eutectic solvents additionMenegatti, Tadej (Avtor) Kopač, Tilen (Avtor) Krajnc, Matjaž (Avtor) Žnidaršič Plazl, Polona (Avtor) hydrogelnatural deep eutectic solventpolyvinyl alcoholalginaterheologypermeabilityEnzyme entrapment in porous hydrogel structures by cross-linking different (bio)polymers is one of the simplest and non-invasive techniques to immobilize biocatalysts. Hydrogels should provide specific attributes in order to be suitable matrices for enzyme immobilization, e.g. favorable pore size and stability in the reaction solvent. The addition of polyvinyl alcohol to the copolymeric hydrogel resulted in improved shear modulus by threefold while also improving chemical resistance to high pKa environment ((S)-α-Methylbenzylamine). On the other hand, hydrogels typically have poor permeability for typical substrates in industrial biocatalysis with low water-solubility. To address this challenge, a selected natural deep eutectic solvent was added during polyvinyl alcohol-alginate copolymeric hydrogel preparation. Permeability to ethyl 3-oxobutanoate, a model molecule used for bioreduction to chiral alcohols in yeast cells, and the rheological properties of hydrogels with added amounts of eutectic solvents was measured. The addition of 20 % of the natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) to the mixture for the preparation of the hydrogel increases the volume of the resulting hydrogel and subsequently also its permeability to ethyl 3-oxobutanoate, while decreasing the Shear modulus.20232023-12-18 22:13:21Neznano153126sl