Present study has successfully synthesized melamine-based covalent organic polymers (MCOPs) and applied it as lipase carrier for recyclable esters hydrolysis and transesterification. The synthesized MCOPs are composed of dense nanosheet structures having a thickness of 3.5 nm. Three immobilization methods namely physical adsorption, cross-linking and carrier activation were employed to prepare the MCOPs-immobilized CRL. Cross-linked MCOPs-immobilized CRL (41.30 mg protein/g MCOPs) and carrier activated MCOPs-immobilized CRL (33.20 mg protein/g MCOPs) had higher enzyme loading as compared to physical absorb MCOPs-immobilized CRL (29.30 mg protein/g MCOPs). Nevertheless, physical absorb MCOPs-immobilized CRL demonstrated the highest esters hydrolysis (49.85 U) and transesterification (1.04 U) activities. Despite having the highest enzymatic activity, physical absorb MCOPs-immobilized CRL were not able to maintain its catalytic stability with more than 30% decreased in enzymatic activity during consecutive hydrolysis and transesterification activities. Meanwhile, cross-linked MCOPs-immobilized CRL demonstrated highest catalytic stability with highest enzymatic activities at the end of consecutive reactions. All the MCOPs-immobilized CRL can be easily recovered and reused through centrifugation with more than 85% of recovery rate.
Keywords: melamine-based covalent organic polymers; Candida rugosa lipase; hydrolysis; immobilization; transesterification.