Liposomes as protective capsules for active silica sol-gel biocomposite synthesis.

Using liposome to shield an enzyme from hostile chemical environments during the sol-gel formation process has resulted in a novel approach to synthesizing silica sol-gel biocomposite materials. By reporting the encapsulation of horseradish peroxidase and firefly luciferase, we demonstrate that this new protocol can produce silica biocomposites that are more active than trapping the enzymes directly into hydrogels.