Understanding the influence of key ionic liquid properties on the hydrolytic activity of thermomyces lanuginosus lipase

Ionic liquids (ILs) are solvents with numerous properties, which have been recently used for enzyme catalysis. In this work, five different ILs based on primary, tertiary, and quaternary ammonium cations coupled with mesylate and propionate anions were used as media for hydrolysis by the industrially relevant enzyme Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase (TLL). We correlated the TLL activity with various key IL and IL-water properties, including ion concentration, water activity (aw), kosmotropicity, hydrogen-bond basicity (β), and pH. The ion concentration was associated with aw, and the molar ratio of water/IL 5:1 (aw≈0.6) was found to be the threshold for assured TLL activity. Triethylammonium mesylate was the best IL owing to its kosmotropicity and ideal intrinsic β. The pH of IL-water mixtures is a key parameter related to the conformational change of TLL. We demonstrated the pH effect of the IL-water mixtures can be overcome by buffering, and the buffered system displayed the greatest activity.