Determination of total and active immobilized enzyme distribution in porous solid supports

The total and active immobilized enzyme (IME) distributions in porous supports are studied both theoretically and experimentally. In order to determine experimentally the enzyme distribution profiles within a single particle, we construct a diffusion cell containing controlled‐pore glass particles such that the cell would mimic a large pellet support. Our purpose is to study the interplay between the diffusion process within the interparticle void space and immobilization process in the controlled‐pore glass particles onto the evolution of the (total and active) enzyme distributions. A mathematical model is developed to describe the interaction of various processes within the diffusion cell. The immobilized enzymes are determined for a system of trypsin and controlled‐pore glass particles. The total amount of enzymes are determined by the amino acid analysis, and the active fraction is obtained by an active‐site titration. The experimentally measured total IME profiles compare very well with that predicted by the model. The determined active enzyme profile is found to be nonuniform one, and it represents about 40% of the total enzyme immobilized in the support particles.