Immobilization of lipase on porous monodisperse chitosan microspheres

Porous monodisperse chitosan microspheres were synthesized for enzyme immobilization. The microspheres were prepared using microchannels and modified with glutaraldehyde. The microspheres had a mean diameter of 495 mu m; the polydispersity indices were less than 0.08, and the specific surface area was between 121 and 173m(2)/g. Candida sp. 1619 lipase was selected as a model lipase. Immobilization conditions such as enzyme loading, glutaraldehyde concentration, and immobilization time were optimized. The temperature, pH, and storage stability of the free and immobilized enzymes were also investigated. The immobilized enzyme had broad-ranging pH and temperature optima as compared with free enzyme. The storage stability of the immobilized enzyme was higher than that of the free enzyme.