Comparative study of poly(vinyl alcohol)‐based support materials for the immobilization of glucose oxidase

BACKGROUND: The performances of four types of glucose oxidase (GOD) immobilization materials based on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were compared. The matrices of interest were chemically‐linked PVA, freeze‐thawed PVA cryogel, tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) sol‐gel‐PVA hybrid material, and alumina sol‐gel‐PVA hybrid material. RESULTS: Overall, the membranes showed good sensitivity except for the chemically cross‐linked PVA. However, the main differences with the enzyme immobilization methods were enzyme leakage and values of K_m^app. CONCLUSION: Freeze‐thawed PVA‐GOD membranes and TMOS‐PVA, which showed satisfactory sensitivity and adequate value of K_m^app, were quite promising as support materials for immobilizing GOD. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry