Megaporous poly(hydroxy ethylmethacrylate) based poly(glycidylmethacrylate-N-methacryloly-(l)-tryptophan) embedded composite cryogel

• Composite cryogel was used for one-step purification of lipase enzyme from aqueous solution.
• Embedded composite cryogel enabling higher surface area was used as hydrophobic support.
• Composite cryogel membrane can be used without further modification.
• Fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) studies were performed for specific adsorption of lipase.

One-step activation, purification, and stabilization of lipase enzyme were performed by using composite hydrophobic support at low ionic strength with increased surface area during embedding process. A novel hydrophobic poly(hydroxyethylmethacrylate) [PHEMA] based, poly(glycidyl methacrylate-N-methacryloly-(l)-tryptophan) [PGMATrp] bead embedded composite cryogel membrane having specific surface area of 195 m2/g was used as hydrophobic matrix for adsorption of commercial Candida Rugosa lipase in a continuous system. PGMATrp embedded PHEMA cryogel membrane with 60–100 μm pore size was obtained by dispersion polymerization of GMA and MATrp to form PGMATrp beads followed by embedding of PGMATrp to HEMA via APS and TEMED redox pair. The introduction of hydrophobic MATrp monomer into bead structure aiming to increase interaction between lipase and composite membrane was estimated using nitrogen stoichiometry of elemental analysis and found to be 239 μmol/g of polymer. Hydophobicity increment due to embedding process was confirmed by measuring contact angle, it was found 42° and 48.4° for the PHEMA and PHEMA/PGMATrp composite cryogel respectively. Some parameters i.e. pH, flow-rate, protein concentration, temperature, salt type and ionic intensity were evaluated on the adsorption capacity in a continuous system. Fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) studies were performed for specific adsorption of lipase onto the PHEMA/PGMATrp embedded composite cryogel membrane.

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