Immobilization of glutaryl-7-aminocephalosporanic acid acylase on silica gel and enhancement of its stability.

ABSTRACT

Glutaryl-7-aminocephalosporanic acid (GL-7-ACA) acylase is an enzyme that converts GL-7-ACA to 7-aminocephalosporanic acid, a starting material for semisynthetic cephalosporin antibiotics. In this study, optimal conditions for the immobilization of GL-7-ACA acylase were determined by experimental observations and statistical methods. The optimal conditions were as follows 1.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 8.3) as buffer solution, immobilization temperature of 20 degrees C, and immobilization time of 120 min. Unreacted aldehyde groups were quenched by reaction with a low-molecular-weight material such as L-lysine, glycine, and ethanolamine after immobilization in order to enhance the activity of immobilized GL-7-ACA acylase. The activities of immobilized GL-7-ACA acylase obtained by using the low-molecular-weight materials were higher than those obtained by immobilized GL-7-ACA acylase not treated with low-molecular-weight materials. In particular, the highest activity of immobilized GL-7-ACA acylase was obtained using 0.4% (v/v) ethanolamine. We also investigated the effect of sodium cyanoborohydride in order to increase the stability of the linkage between the enzyme and the support. The effect on operational stability was obvious the activity of immobilized GL-7-ACA acylase treated with 4% (w/w) sodium cyanoborohydride remained almost 100% after 20 times of reuse.