Abstract

IMMOBILIZATION OF THERAPEUTICALLY BENEFICIAL ENZYMES

Ammayappan Rajam Srividya, Vaithiyalingam Jagannathan Vishnuvarthan

Abstract

Immobilization is a process used to restrict the freedom of movement of enzyme or cells. Immobilization is a convenient term covering the methods of generation of heterogenous biocatalysts The use of immobilized cells as industrial catalysts has many operational advantages associated with the use of free cells together with number of additional merits. Immobilized microorganisms are convenient to handle and permit easy separation of product from the biocatalyst. Adsorption, covalent binding , entrapment, encapsulation , cross linking are the various methods adopted to immobilize the enzymes or whole cells. An support is used to immobilize the cells or enzyme. An ideal support and the choice of matrix for immobilization will depend on the nature of the bio- catalyst, nature of the reaction and its ultimate application in proper reactor geometry, commercial success has been achieved where the support material has been chosen for its flow characteristic, cost, non-toxicity and immobilization method tailored to give maximum bio- catalytic while retaining the desirable flow characteristic.

Keywords: Immobilization, catalase, lipase, streptokinase, protease, penicillinase, adsorption.