APPROACH TO THE USE OF IMMOBILIZED SULFATASE FOR ANALYTICAL PURPOSES AND FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DESULFO-GLUCOSINOLATES

A commercial crude sulfatase from snail (Helix pomatia) was purified b y ion exchange, affinity and FPLC gel-filtration chromatography. The e nzyme isolated, which was ca. 37-fold more active than the commercial one, was covalently immobilized on nylon 6.6 by the cross linking meth od. Immobilized sulfatase was used to produce some desulfo-glucosinola tes (DSGLs) on the gram-scale, starting from glucotropaeolin, glucorap henin and epi-progoitrin, and for HPLC analyses of glucosinolates (GLs ) contained in cruciferous material and rapeseed in particular. The im mobilized enzyme, as well as allowing the standardization of the HPLC method for GLs analysis, seems to be an efficient system for producing DSGLs which are interesting starting materials to prepare bio-active structures through further chemical modifications. (C) 1998 Elsevier S cience B.V.