Abstract
Whole cells of Nocardia rhodocrous were immobilized by entrapment with photo-crosslinkable resin prepolymers or urethane prepolymers of either hydrophilic or hydrophobic character, and their activity in converting 3β- hydroxy-Δ5 to corresponding 3-keto-Δ4 in an appropriate organic solvent system (e.g., a water-saturated mixture of benzene and n-heptane (1∶1 by volume)) was studied. Although both hydrophilic gel-entrapped cells and hydrophobic gel-entrapped cells could transform dehydroepiandrosterone to 4-androstene-3, 17-dione, the latter showed a significantly higher activity than the former. In the cases of the oxidation of cholesterol, β-sitosterol and stigmasterol to the corresponding 3-keto-Δ4-steroids, only hydrophobic gel-entrapped cells exhibited the catalytic activity.
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