Does 1-Allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride Act as a Biocompatible Solvent for Stem Bromelain?

The broader scope of ILs in chemical sciences particularly in pharmaceutical, bioanalytical and many more applications is increasing day by day. Hitherto, a very less amount of research is available in the depiction of conformational stability, activity, and thermal stability of enzymes in the presence of ILs. In the present study, the perturbation in the structure, stability, and activity of stem bromelain (BM) has been observed in the presence of 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Amim][Cl]) using various techniques. This is the first report in which the influence of [Amim][Cl] has been studied on the enzyme BM. Fluorescence spectroscopy has been utilized to map out the changes in the environment around tryptophan (Trp) residues of BM and also to discuss the variations in the thermal stability of BM as an outcome of its interaction with the IL at different concentrations. Further, the work delineates the denaturing effect of high concentration of IL on enzyme structure and activity. It dictates the fact that low concentrations (0.01-0.10 M) of [Amim][Cl] are only changing the structural arrangement of the protein without having harsh consequences on its activity and stability. However, high concentrations of IL proved to be totally devastating for both activity and stability of BM. The observed decrease in the stability of BM at high concentration may be due to the combined effect of cation and anion interactions with the protein residues. The present work is successful in dictating the probable mechanism of interaction between BM and [Amim][Cl]. These results can prove to be fruitful in the studies of enzymes in aqueous IL systems since the used IL is thermally stable and nonvolatile in nature thereby providing a pathway of alteration in the activity of enzymes in potentially green systems.