Résumé
A new approach for the study of an enzyme's relationship with its own reaction medium has been developed. One technique of micellar enzymology is the use of pseudohomogeneous systems composed of surfactant/water/organic solvent. In such systems, the physicochemical properties and textures of the medium depend on the relative ratios of the different components. Enzymes are catalytically active in such systems and up to the present have been studied in different microenvironments, such as micelles, microemulsions and lyotropic liquid crystals. Our purpose was to develop a system in which the enzyme could, by its activity, modify one of the components in such a way that the relative ratios among them changed sufficiently to produce a transition from one phase domain to another. The three components, water (or glucose in water), octanol and octyl‐β‐D‐glucoside, form a classical ternary water/oil/surfactant system. The relevant phase diagram shows different macroheterogeneous phases and microstructured domains. The enzyme β‐D‐glucoside hydrolyses octyl‐β‐D‐glucoside to form glucose and octanol. The enzyme was found to change the relative ratios of water (or glucose in water), octanol and octyl‐β‐D‐glucoside in such a manner that the physicochemical structure of the medium was modified. At the beginning of the reaction β‐D‐glucosidase was present in a micellar solution of octyl‐β‐D‐glucoside in water. As the enzymatic reaction proceeded, the medium became biphasic. One of the two phases was the micellar solution of octylβ‐D‐glucoside in water, while the other phase was either a microemulsion or a liquid crystalline phase. In addition the enzyme, through its catalytic activity, was able to modify the physicochemical properties of the reaction medium.