ABSTRACT
Enzymes are biological catalysts, which accelerate chemical or physical reactions in vivo and in vitro with very high selectivity, specificity, and efficiency. This chapter focuses on how enzymes and water- soluble polymers interact and how the synthetic polymers can enhance the physical, chemical, and biological properties of enzymes. Hemoglobin does not function as an enzyme in biological environments but its peroxidase-like activity is widely used in biosensors, and the oxidation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Both glucose oxidase and horseradish peroxidase are industrially important enzymes and used in various applications such as sensing of glucose, biofuel cell applications and biocatalysis. Polyacrylic acid is a hydrophilic polymer with one COOH group per monomer being available for conjugation with the amine groups on enzyme surfaces. The larger the enzyme, the longer the length of the polymer required to fully wrap the enzyme, as derived from simple geometry considerations.
