1984 Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 215-224
Of various immobilization methods developed hitherto, entrapment of biocatalysts in natural or synthetic polymer gels is the most promising because this method is applicable to immobilization not only of single enzymes but also of plural enzymes, cellular organelles, microbial cells, plant cells and animal cells. We have developed simple and convenient entrapment methods by using photo-crosslinkable resin prepolymers and urethane prepolymers of different chemical structures and physico-chemical properties. Gel-entrapped biocatalysts thus prepared have been successfully applied to the bioconversions of various compounds including lipophilic and water-insoluble compounds, and to the assays of different substances. Furthermore, entrapped living and growing microbial cells, which are used in multi-step and cooperative reactions, can be prepared by the prepolymer methods. Catalytic activities of the entrapped biocatalysts were proved to be affected by the physico-chemical properties of gels prepared from these prepolymers, such as net-work size, hydrophilicity-hydrophobicity balance and ionic nature. The prepolymer methods offer an easy selection of gel properties
