Immobilization on magnetic PVA/SA@Fe3O4 hydrogel beads enhances the activity and stability of neutral protease

Comparative study on different immobilization sites of immobilized β-agarase based on the biotin/streptavidin system

β-Agarase was biotinylated and immobilized onto streptavidin-conjugated magnetic nanoparticles to provide insights into the effect of immobilization sites on β-agarase immobilization. Results showed that, compared with free enzyme, the stability of prepared immobilized β-agarases through amino or carboxyl activation were both significantly improved. However, the amino-activated immobilized β-agarase showed higher thermostability and catalytic efficiency than the carboxyl-activated immobilized β-agarase. The relative activity of the former was 65.00 % after incubation at 50 °C for 1 h, which was 1.77-fold higher than that of the latter. Additionally, amino-activated immobilization increased the affinity of the enzyme to the substrate, and its maximum reaction rate (0.68 μmol/min) was superior to that of carboxyl-activated immobilization (0.53 μmol/min). The visualization results showed that the catalytic site of β-agarase after carboxyl-activated immobilization was more susceptible to the immobilization process, and the orientation of the enzyme may also hinder substrate binding and product release. These results suggest that by pre-selecting appropriate activation sites and enzyme orientation, immobilized enzymes with higher catalytic activity and stability can be obtained, making them more suitable for the application of continuous production.

Functionalized activated carbon as support for trypsin immobilization and its application in casein hydrolysis

This study aimed to immobilize trypsin on activated carbon submitted to different surface modifications and its application in casein hydrolysis. With the aim of determining which support can promote better maintenance of the immobilized enzyme. Results showed that pH 5.0 was obtained as optimal for immobilization and pH 9.0 for the casein hydrolysis reaction for activated carbon and glutaraldehyde functionalized carbon. Among the supports used, activated carbon modified with iron ions in the presence of a chelating agent was the one that showed best results, under the conditions evaluated in this study. Presenting an immobilization yield of 95.15% and a hydrolytic activity of 4.11 U, same as soluble enzyme (3.76 U). This derivative kept its activity stable at temperatures above 40 °C for1 h and when stored for 30 days at 5 °C. Furthermore, it was effective for more than 6 reuse cycles (under the same conditions as the 1st cycle). In general, immobilization of trypsin on metallized activated carbon can be an alternative to biocatalysis, highlighting the advantages of protease immobilization.

The incorporation of polypyrrole (PPy) in CS/PVA composite films to enhance the structural, optical, and the electrical conductivity

Using the solution casting method, a blend of polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan (PVA/Cs) blend was prepared with different amounts of polypyrrole (PPy) to enhance the structural and electrical conductivity of the films. The miscibility and interaction between PVA/Cs were confirmed by FT-IR measurements by shifting and disappearing some bands suggesting that the PVA functional group interacted with every other functional group on the Cs side chain. For PVA/Cs/PPy, some band intensities varied, indicating the interaction between PPy and PVA/Cs. XRD showed that the addition of PPy to the blend leads to a noticeable decrease in the intensity of the diffraction peak at 2θ = 20.0° confirming the interactions have occurred between the PVA/Cs mixture and PPy. The UV–visible spectra indicate that increasing the amounts of PPy leads to a dramatic decrease in the energy band gap and an increase in the Urbach energy due to the creation of new energy levels that emerged between conduction and valance bands. After PPy was introduced, the polaron and bipolaron transition peaks at 416, 465, and 560 nm become apparent in the PL spectrum. The dielectric and the electrical properties were reported. The values of ε′ and ε′′ were stronger at low frequencies confirming the possibilities of interface polarization processes. The tan δ behavior diagrams have exhibited one peak trend in all samples shift toward higher frequencies as the temperature and PPy rise. The presence of the peaks was explained based on the electrical conductivity mechanism and dielectric behavior. The Cole–Cole plot displays a half one semicircle shape that explains the absence of contact effects. This semicircle expands as both temperature and PPy increase.