Immobilization of laccase on hairy polymer grafted zeolite particles: Degradation of a model dye and product analysis with MALDI–ToF-MS

•Zeolite particles was grafted with functional poly(2-chloroethyl acrylate).•Covalent immobilization of laccase was realized on composite particles.•Stability of laccase was increased upon immobilization on composite particles.•Dye degradation efficiency of laccase increased upon immobilization.•The resulting dye products were analyzed by MALDI–ToF-MS.

Poly(2-chloroethyl acrylate), p(CEA), as a functional polymer was grafted via surface initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) on zeolite particles. The p(CEA) grafted zeolite particles were aminated, and a ligninolytic enzyme “laccase” from Trametes versicolor was covalently immobilized on the composite particles via glutaraldehyde coupling. The amount of immobilized laccase on the zeolite-g-p(CEA) particles was determined as 17.7 mg g−1 particles. The degradation of a model dye (i.e., Reactive Red 120; RR-120) with the free and immobilized laccases was evaluated in batch and continuous systems. The covalently immobilized laccase showed a high decolorization efficiency toward RR-120 in aqueous solution compared to the free counterpart. The resulting dye degradation products were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI–ToF-MS).

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