Polyelectrolyte-coated microcapsules and their potential applications to biotechnology

Polyelectrolyte-coated microcapsules can be prepared by adsorption of polyions onto microcapsule surfaces in aqueous solutions under appropriate pH and ionic conditions. The resulting polyelectrolyte-coated microcapsules provide a promising tool for studying pH-induced configurational changes in polyions adsorbed onto hydrophobic membranes (capsule walls). An interesting application of polyelectrolyte-coated microcapsules is the pH-sensitive on/off control of microencapsulated enzyme reactions through alterations in the substrate permeability of the capsule wall by pH-conditioned configurational changes in the adsorbed polyion layer. This paper presents an overview of pH-induced conformational changes of polyelectrolytes in solutions, preparation of polyelectrolyte-coated microcapsules with an immobilized enzyme, and on/off control of the respective enzyme reactions by pH adjustment. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.