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A photo-active gellan gum (Gel) derivative was developed by amide bond combination with trans-4-[p-(amino)styryl]pyridine (SP). The SP-Gel was cross-linked by UV curing via the intermolecular 2π + 2π cycloaddition of the inserted SP–CH=CH- moieties. The chemical structure of the obtained photo-crosslinkable biopolymer was investigated before and after the UV curing and the progress of the performed 2π + 2π cycloaddition-based cross-linking was detected via UV–visible light spectra. SP-Gel was evaluated as a polymeric matrix for the immobilization of catalase via entrapment technique. The synthesized biopolymer was mixed with the catalase and molded in the form of membranes that were UV cured to encapsulate the enzyme. The membranes were able to entrap 0.75 mg/cm2 with retained activity reached above 95%. The immobilized catalase displayed higher thermal stability and higher resistance toward the environmental pH disturbances compared to the free enzyme. Also, despite the observed lower catalase-H2O2 affinity upon the entrapment that was indicated from the performed kinetic studies, the reusability and storage stability experiments revealed the economic value of the entire process by preserving around 95% and 83% of the initial catalase activity after the fifth and tenth operation cycles, respectively.

An enantioselective S-mandelic acid (S-MA) imprinted chitosan (SMIC) was prepared by cross-linking of chitosan using formaldehyde cross-linker, in the presence of S-MA as an imprint template molecule and 0.5% acetic acid solution as a solvent. Non-imprinted cross-linked chitosan (NIC) as control was also prepared by the same procedure in absence of template molecules. The surface morphology of both SMIC and NIC were examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM). SMIC particles were applied to determine the optimum operational condition for S-MA separation from dilute aqueous solution. In adsorption step, optimum pH and retention time were 3.5 and 60 min, while corresponding values in extraction step were 1 and 40 min, respectively. Also, the adsorption isotherms indicated that the maximum adsorption capacities of S- and R-MA on SMIC were 100 ± 0.5 and 64 ± 0.8 mg/g, respectively, while in the case of NIC, both R- and S-MA present the same maximum adsorption.