Interactions and stability of biomolecules in sol-gel

It has been shown that the sol-gel materials can be used as host matrices for a variety of biological molecules (7-77). The dopant biomolecules reside in the porous network of these sol-gel composite materials as a part of nanostructured architecture. The unique nanostructured assembly of such sol-gel composites is characterized by biomolecules enclosed in the nanopores of the material. The bioparticles arranged as part of sol-gel composites are characterized by intermediate order and mobility, as opposed to the higher degrees of order available in solids or the pronounced mobilities present in solution media. In other words, the properties of both the solid and solution phases prevail in sol-gel environment. In spite of general similarity in reaction chemistry with macroscopic solution based discipline, variation in overall reaction kinetics can be observed as a direct consequence of encapsulation. Usually it is the interactions of the dopant molecules with the sol-gel matrix that determine the reaction pathways a particular system undergoes. Such a nanostructured system utilizes the properties of spatially isolated molecules in a solvent-rich environment necessary for stability of the biomolecules. 

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