Urease Immobilization with Affinity Based Hybrid Nanopolymeric Membranes

Affınity based hybrid nanopolymeric membranes were developed in this work as a support material to immobilize urease. The hybrid membrane exhibits the desired characteristics and has potential applications in biotechnological and biomedical processes, particularly in artificial kidney devices that remove urea from blood. In this study, it was aimed to embed p(GMA) (glycidylmethacrylate) nanoparticles into HEMA(2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate) membranes and use them in urease enzyme immobilization. First, p(GMA) nanoparticles were synthesized with surfactant-free emulsion polymerization method. Then, a hybrid affinity system was developed by embedding p(GMA) nanoparticles in the p(HEMA) polymeric membranes synthesized by the free radical photopolymerization method. Following the characterization studies with dry mass analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, surface area calculations, and swelling tests of the hybrid membranes, and conditions (pH, temperature, and concentration) were optimized for urease immobilization. Urease was immobilized onto p(GMA) nanoparticles embedded in p(HEMA) hybrid membranes via adsorption. The maximum urease immobilization capacity of the p(GMA) nanoparticles embedded in p(HEMA) hybrid membranes was 31.85 µg/g. The hybrid membrane exhibits the desired characteristics and has potential applications in biotechnological and biomedical processes, particularly in artificial kidney devices that remove urea from blood.