JOURNAL OF FOOD BIOCHEMISTRY, cilt.32, sa.3, ss.299-315, 2008 (SCI-Expanded)
A carrier for invertase enzyme was synthesized from styrene (S) and 2- hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) in the form of microbeads. These poly (styrene-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), P(S-HEMA) microbeads were activated by epichlorohydrin (ECH) treatment for covalent immobilization. The free and immobilized invertase were assayed in the hydrolysis of sucrose to glucose, and the obtained results were compared. The optimum pH was 4.5 for free and 5.5 for immobilized invertase. The optimum temperature of invertase shifted from 45C to 55C upon immobilization. For free and immobilized enzymes, kinetic parameters were calculated as 4.1 x 10(-3) mol L(-1)and 9.2 x 10(-3) mol L(-1)for K-m, and 6.6 x 10(-2) mol L-1 min(-1)and 4.1 x 10(-1) mol L-1 min(-1)for V-max, respectively. After 1 month of storage at 4C, free enzyme retained 36% of its initial activity, while for the ECH-activated P(S-HEMA) immobilized enzyme, P(S-HEMA)-E, this value was observed as 67%. In repeated batch use, i.e., 20 times in 3 days, 78% retention of the initial activity was observed for P(S-HEMA)-E system.