Agarose vs. Methacrylate as Material Supports for Enzyme Immobilization and Continuous Processing

Enzyme immobilization has become a key strategy to improve the stability and recycling of biocatalysts, resulting in greener more cost-efficient processes. The design immobilized catalysts is often focused only on strategy, binding chemistry between enzyme support, while less attention been paid physico-chemical properties material supports. Selecting best carrier for specific application may greatly influence performance biocatalytic reaction. Herein, we present comparative study two most used supports protein immobilization, agarose methacrylate. Hydrophilic microbeads ensure higher retained enzymatic activity better catalyst when hydrophobic compounds are involved biotransformation. Due high stickiness, lipophilic molecules represent major limitation methacrylate carriers. O2-dependent reactions, contrast, must be carried out by enzymes due low mechanical under dehydration conditions. All these parameters were tested with special focus continuous-flow applications.