TIME-DEPENDENT BEHAVIOR OF THE CROSS-LINKING REACTION OF ALPHA-CHYMOTRYPSIN WITH GLUTARALDEHYDE

Immobilization of alpha-chymotrypsin was done by cross-linking the enz yme with glutaraldehyde. Studies were done in a batch reactor to find out the effects of the concentrations of alpha-chymotrypsin and glutar aldehyde on the rate of particle formation, the final yield of the cro ss-linked particles, and the residual activity of the cross-linked enz yme. Both intra- and inter-molecular cross-linking play important role at different time course of the reaction. At the begining of the cros s-linking reaction, the large drop in the activity is because of the i ntra-molecular cross-linking and later on the large increase in the pa rticle formation is because of the inter-molecular cross-linking.