Thermal stability of glucose oxidase and its admixtures with synthetic polymers

The thermal stability of glucose oxidase in solution was studied as a function of time and temperature between 37–60°C. As expected, the rate of thermal inactivation increased with temperature and at 60°C more than 80% of the enzyme's activity was lost after 0.5 hr incubation. Similar stability measurements on enzyme solutions containing water soluble synthetic polymers showed that several of the polymers significantly enhanced the thermal stability of glucose oxidase. Copolymers of vinyl acetate with either vinyl pyrrolidone or vinyl alcohol were found to be particularly effective. The molecular weight of the added polymers was found to be unimportant in the stabilization process but both polymer concentration and compositions were shown to be critical parameters.