Author: Purwiyatno Hariyadi
ABSTRACT
Enzymes are considered to be highly efficient and specific in facilitating a chemical reaction, such that side reactions are negligible. However, due to their relatively high cost and instability in industrial environment, widespread application in industrial processes remain rather limited. Furthermore, in industrial setting, enzymes are used mainly because of their ability to degrade or hydrolyze food components relative to all other types of reaction they can mediate. Microaqueous enzymology has received considerable attention in the last decade or so. Microaqueous system has been defined as those containing very limited amount of water and are typically composed of organic solvents. The fact that enzyme can function in microaqueous system, substantially broadenes the scope of potential enzyme applications in the food and related industries. Not only do many enzymes remain fully active in microaqueous media, they often are observed to exhibit unusual reactivities and spesificity in water-deprived media. In the area of food science, these recent advances have provided new avenues for the application of enzymes to improve and modify foods, synthesize food ingredients, and potentially produce new food ingredients.