The development and characterization of bioreactors or IMER (immobilized enzyme reactors) as research tools are important in the scope of medicinal chemistry and constitute an alternative for the rational development of drugs. This approach does not require highly purified enzymes or a great amount of protein, but increase the enzymatic stability against heat, organic solvents and pH, without too much loss of catalyst activity. Immobilized enzyme reactors (IMER) can be used for the accomplishment of high efficiency screening on-line and, thus inhibitors can be quickly identified. Here, we emphasize the development of IMER by use of different methods of immobilization and chromatographic supports. Their applications, in different areas of research, are also fully discussed.
enzymes; bioreactors; inhibitors
