Remarkable activation of an enzyme by (R)-pyrrolidine-substituted imidazolium alkyl PEG sulfate

The chiral pyrrolidine-substituted imidazolium cetyl-PEG10-sulfate (D-ProMe) derived from D-proline worked as an excellent activating agent of Burkholderia cepacia lipase; it is particularly interesting that the D-isomer of the imidazolium salt worked better than the L-isomer. This suggests that the imidazolium cation group directly interacts with the enzyme protein and causes preferable modification of the reactivity.