WATER AND PROTEINS CONFINED IN SILICA HYDROGELS AND SILICA NANOPARTICLES: STRUCTURAL, DYNAMIC AND FUNCTIONAL STUDIES

In this paper we review some recent experimental work performed at our labo-ratory on the structural and dynamic properties of water and proteins encapsulated in macroscopic silica hydrogels and in silica nanoparticles obtained with the sol-gel method. For encapsulated proteins, studies have been extended to monitor also the spectral and conformational properties, the structural stability and the functional-ity. Several spectroscopic techniques have been employed; these include small angle X-ray scattering, dynamic light scattering, broad band dielectric spectroscopy, low temperature absorption spectroscopy in the mid and near infrared, room tempera-ture circular dichroism and stopped ow spectroscopy. The reported data highlight the interest of silica hydrogels and silica nanoparticles as conning systems for liq-uids and proteins both for basic and applied research.