Degradation of a fullerene end-capped polycaprolactone by lipase AK

Using titrimetric method, enzymatic behavior of lipase AK against fullerene end-capped polycaprolactone (C60-PCL) was studied for the first time, compared with polycaprolactone (PCL). The results showed that degradation of both C60-PCL and PCL by lipase followed Mechaelis-Menten equation, with the degradation parameters of PCL and C60-PCL were 0.75 mg mL 1 and 0.16 mg mL 1 for K m, and 0.90 mL h 1 and 0.43 mL h 1 for V max, respectively. C60-PCL had a slower degradation rate than PCL under the same conditions. These data indicated that the introduction of fullerene enabled PCL hard to be degraded by lipase.