PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYETHYLENE BASED GRAFT-COPOLYMERS - APPLICATIONS IN THE IMMOBILIZATION OF ENZYMES

In the last few years new copolymeric supports for the immobilization of biological compounds have been developed. The graft copolymer polye thylene-g.co-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, partially hydrolyzed, has show n to be a very promising support for this purpose. The more recent wor k in the preparation and characterization of this copolymer, as well a s the immobilization of a lipase, is reported in this paper. Branches of poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) were grafted onto low density polye thylene by using gamma radiation. The influence of the presence and ab sence of air, as well as the monomer concentration on the yield of gra fting were evaluated.The obtained copolymers were characterized by DSC and FTIR. The influence of the support properties on the synthesis bi ocatalytic activity was detected.