Affinity Covalent Immobilization of Glucoamylase onto ρ-Benzoquinone Activated Alginate Beads: I. Beads Preparation and Characterization

ρ-Benzoquinone-activated alginate beads were presented as a new carrier for affinity covalent immobilization of glucoamylase enzyme. Evidences of alginate modification were extracted from FT-IR and thermal gravimetric analysis and supported by morphological changes recognized through SEM examination. Factors affecting the modification process such as ρ-benzoquinone (PBQ) concentration, reaction time, reaction temperature, reaction pH and finally alginate concentration, have been studied. Its influence on the amount of coupled PBQ was consequently correlated to the changes of the catalytic activity and the retained activity of immobilized enzyme, the main parameters judging the success of the immobilization process. The immobilized glucoamylase was found kept almost 80% of its native activity giving proof of non-significant substrate, starch, diffusion limitation. The proposed affinity covalent immobilizing technique would rank among the potential strategies for efficient immobilization of glucoamylase enzyme.