Covalent immobilization of urease on polysiloxane matrices containing 3-aminopropyl and 3-mercaptopropyl groups

Abstract

A technique of covalent immobilization of urease on polysiloxane templates, involving the sol-gel method, based on the use of crosslinking reagents (such as glutaraldehyde and Ellman's reagent) has been proposed. Urease, covalently grafted onto the surface of a poly(3-mercaptopropyl)siloxane template, was shown to retain its activity (67-84%) and stability (a decrease of 10% was observed over a period of 300 days). Urease adsorbed onto the poly(3-mercaptopropyl)siloxane template exhibited a higher activity than the native enzyme. The 3-mercaptopropyl groups of the polysiloxane template could be brought into the vicinity of the active metal center of the adsorbed urease and start acting as proton donors, thereby increasing the rate of the reaction catalyzed by the enzyme. Covalent immobilization of urease onto a 3-aminopropyl-containing polysiloxane template was shown to be less efficient, because it resulted in considerable losses of the activity of the enzyme. Conversely, urease adsorbed onto this template exhibited a high activity (60-86%).