UV-curable methacrylated/fumaric acid modified epoxy as a potential support for enzyme immobilization

The immobilization procedure of UV-curing coating is simple and causes less loss of enzymatic activity. UV-curable methacrylated/fumaric acid modified cycloaliphatic epoxide is here proposed as a rigid support material for covalent immobilization of α-amylase. The immobilized enzyme is analyzed in terms of bioactivity retention as a function of repeated use ability, pH, storage, as well as stability under various experimental conditions, taking starch as a substrate. The properties of immobilized enzyme were also compared with those of the free enzyme. The highest activity of free enzyme was obtained at pH 7.0 while this value was shifted to pH 7.5 for immobilized system. Optimum catalytic activity was observed at 30 °C, for both free and immobilized enzyme; however, the immobilized enzyme had a higher activity than the free one. The immobilized enzyme that was used 35 times in 8 h in repeated batch experiments demonstrated that about 73% of the enzyme activity was retained. The free enzyme lost all its activity with in 15 days. The retained activity of immobilized enzyme was found to be around 80%. The amount of bound α-amylase was found 94 mg per gram polymeric support material.