RESUMO
The objective of this study was to investigate the immobilisation efficiency of soybean β-glucosidase (181.6 U/mL; 23.8 mg protein/mL) on activated chitosan beads. Central Composite Rotational Design (CCDR) 23 was used and the application of immobilised enzyme in commercial soy drink was evaluated. The activation of chitosan beads was achieved with established 2.5% glutaraldehyde, pH 7.5, 8 h incubation time (6 h with agitation and 2 h without agitation) at 37ºC. The highest immobilisation efficiency (%) of soybean β-glucosidase on chitosan beads obtained was 37.74 U/mL and 18.84 mg protein/4 chitosan beads at pH 7.5 and 20 h coupling time of enzyme-matrix (7 h with agitation and 13 h without agitation) at 4ºC. The immobilised enzyme incubated at 50ºC, pH 5.5 resulted in 24% increase in the aglycones content in commercial soy drink after 60 min.