A silica-based β-cyclodextrin was immobilized on magnetic nanoparticles to obtain a macrocyclic compound with magnetic property. Then, the β-cyclodextrin-grafted magnetic nanoparticles were encapsulated with Candida rugosa lipase in sol-gel matrices using alkoxysilane precursors. The catalytic activity of the encapsulated lipases was evaluated with model reactions, i.e., the hydrolysis of p-nitro-phenylpalmitate (p-NPP) and the enantioselective hydrolysis of rasemic Naproxen methyl ester that was studied in an aqueous buffer solution/isooctane reaction system. The results indicate that the cyclodextrin-based, encapsulated lipase particularly exhibited high conversion and enantioselectivity behavior compared to the sol-gel free lipase. It was also observed that excellent enantioselectivity (E=399) was obtained for the encapsulated lipase with magnetic β-cyclodextrin that has an ee value of S-Naproxen acid of about 98%. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.