Application of mesoporous silica materials for the immobilization of polyphenol oxidase.

The ability of a number of mesoporous silica materials (SBA-15, SBA-3, and MCM-48) to immobilize polyphenol oxidase (PPO) at different pH has been tested. Pore size and volume are the structural characteristics with higher influence on the PPO immobilization. Mesoropous material SBA-15 adsorbs a larger quantity of PPO at pH 4.00 and offers an inhibition of enzymatic activity close the 50% in apple extracts.