In order to develop safer processes for the food industry, we prepared a chitosan support with the naturally occurring crosslinking reagent, genipin, for enzyme. As application model, it was tested for the immobilization of β-D-galactosidase from Aspergillus oryzae. Chitosan particles were obtained by precipitation followed by adsorption of the enzyme and crosslinking with genipin. The particles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The immobilization of the enzyme by crosslinking with genipin provided biocatalysts with satisfactory activity retention and thermal stability, comparable with the ones obtained with the traditional methodology of immobilization using glutaraldehyde. β-D-Galactosidase-chitosan-genipin particles were applied to galactooligosaccharides synthesis, evaluating the initial lactose concentration, pH and temperature, and yields of 30% were achieved. Moreover, excellent operational stability was obtained, since the immobilized enzyme maintained 100% of its initial activity after 25 batches of lactose hydrolysis. Thus, the food grade chitosan-genipin particles seem to be a good alternative for application in food process.
Enzyme-assisted extraction in liquid-liquid two-phase aqueous system was applied for the first time in order to extract genipin from genipap. The effect of different commercial enzymes, their concentrations, and extraction parameters were investigated. Moreover, chitosan gels were prepared, crosslinked with glutaraldehyde or genipin and characterized by their textural and rheological properties. The crosslinked chitosan was used as support for the immobilization of model β-galactosidases. Among the different commercial enzymes tested for extraction, Celluclast 10% (36 °C and pH 3.7) provided an extraction of 196 mg.g of genipin. Chitosan gels crosslinked with genipin 0.5% showed better textural and similar rheological properties when compared to the chitosan crosslinked with glutaraldehyde 3%. The percentage of lactose hydrolysis by the immobilized K. lactis β-galactosidase using genipin as a crosslinker was 87%. Thus, the genipin obtained in this work proved to be an excellent alternative to the use of glutaraldehyde in chitosan crosslinking applications.
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