Application of the enzyme thermistor to the direct estimation of intrinsic kinetics using the saccharose-immobilized invertase system.

The possibility of using the enzyme thermistor (ET) for the direct determination of kinetic parameters (Km, Ki, Vm) of immobilized enzyme (IME) was evaluated using different preparations of invertase conjugated to bead celluloses. Two different ET columns packed with IME were operated in the mode of a differential enzyme reactor (short length, low substrate conversion). Kinetic parameters of the above IME reactor were computed by a nonlinear curve-fitting procedure. The obtained kinetic parameters were superverified by means of an independent differential reactor (DR) system. This system utilized an indirect postcolumn analytical method based on determination of glucose concentration in the stirred reservoir. Best agreement between the data acquired by direct (ET) and indirect (DR) methods was obtained if the ET column was operated at flow rates within the range of 1.0-1.5 ml min-1 using invertase-cellulose chlorotriazine conjugate. Influence of heat loss and flow nonideality is discussed. The proposed ET method offers a rapid, convenient, and general approach to determination of kinetic constants of IME preparations by omitting postcolumn analytical methods.