Stem bromelain: an enzyme that naturally facilitates oriented immobilization.

The lone oligosaccharide chain of stem bromelain was oxidized with periodic acid to generate aldehyde groups and the resulting oxidized enzyme coupled to amino-Sepharose in order to obtain an immobilized preparation with uniformly oriented enzyme. The immobilized bromelain exhibited high proteolytic activity and remarkably enhanced thermal stability as compared to soluble bromelain and that coupled to CNBr activated Sepharose.