The Localization of Biological Compounds on the Soft Interface of Microdroplet May Answer the Accelerated Reaction Rates Inside Microdroplet

Abstract

Many researchers have reported that microdroplet environment is a good reaction bath providing the remarkably accelerated chemical reaction rates and is directing the reaction path differently from the corresponding bulk-phase reactions. Since the related thermodynamic parameters gave the clues to the uneven distribution of molecules inside the small-compartmentalized space, we have visualized the localization of several biological compounds inside the aqueous microdroplet including proteins, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates with the help of some fluorescence microscopy techniques. Now, we present the localization of molecules on the water-oil interface is common under physiological condition and the charge states of molecules and interface contributes to the variation of the distribution. The observation of the molecules on the interface by means of fluorescence anisotropy gives us some suggestions that the molecular movement on the interface is not only spatially restricted, but is also guided with orientation. We suggest that such the guided movements with some degree of order is another contribution factor to accelerating the unfavorable reaction including enzymatic reactions.