Low-cost, easy-to-prepare magnetic chitosan microparticles for enzymes immobilization.

Extremely simple procedures for the preparation of magnetic chitosan enzyme carriers have been developed and used for the immobilization of lipase and β-galactosidase as model enzymes. In the first case commercially available magnetite microparticles were entrapped in chitosan gel, while in the second case magnetic iron oxides microparticles were synthesized in chitosan matrix from ferrous sulfate using microwave irradiation. Immobilized enzymes showed long-term stability without leaching of enzyme from the support and enabled their repeated use without significant loss of activity.