Study of silanized nanostructures with immobilized fumarase for production of L-malate

The conversion of fumaric acid into L-malate by fumarase immobilized on silanized nanostructures was analyzed experimentally. The enzyme was bound to the silanized nanostructures. We carried out scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, zeta size analysis and surface area calculation for the characterization of the nanostructures. The effect of initial enzyme concentration and pH on immobilization procedure were investigated and the change of Michaelis-Menten constants (K_m and V_max) with immobilization was examined. The change in the storage stability of the enzyme by immobilization was also investigated. The stability of the immobilized enzyme was very good. We observed that the fumarase was bound to silanized nanostructures [p(HEMA)-3-MTES] in much greater amounts. We have compared the activities of free fumarase and immobilized fumarase and we have observed a significant increase in the activity of the fumarase after immobilization for L-malate production. Moreover, we came to the conclusion that this activity can be better preserved for 30 days compared to free fumarase.