(192f) Mechanistic Study of Enzyme Immobilization on Flexible Tubing Surfaces

Tygon is a flexible polymer which can be used to make tubing for handling variety of liquids. Since the Tygon tubing is mainly for biocompatible applications and is non-wetted in nature, there is a need to find an effective way to modify the surface for enzyme immobilization. Herein, we report a mechanistic study of enzyme immobilization on tygon tubing surfaces. The first step is to introduce amine functional group to the surface by using 5% of (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) at different solvents. The surface can be further modified with 5% of dextran poly aldehyde (DPA) to present a high-density of surface aldehyde groups. Subsequently, enzymes can be immobilized on the Tygon tubing surface through covalent linkages between amine groups and surface aldehyde groups. By using protease as a model enzyme, we show that the activity of the immobilized enzyme is 36.5% of the free proteases. Other types of enzymes including catalase and laccase can also be immobilized on the Tygon surface with high activity. Enzyme-modified Tygon tubing has many applications such as biosensing, studying the efficiency of protease inhibitors and continuous degradation of phenolic compounds. Aqueous solutions can flow inside the Tygon tubing freely and be in constant contact with the immobilized enzymes on the surface. Some of the applications will be discussed in this presentation.