We present a practical and stable source of urease enzyme, extracted from watermelon seeds. The resulting powder is rich in enzyme and can be used in reactions that gel in high pH. With the small (~10 micron) size of the powder, dispersions are possible in both aqueous and organic systems. To make the powder more user friendly, we immobilize them in various substrates from agar to porous acrylates. These polymeric carriers then can be used in a similar fashion to the watermelon seed powder with reusability in subsequent reactions. These enzyme carriers also exhibit quorum sensing behavior where their proximity, size, or number determine whether a clock reaction occurs or not. In addition, they can be paired with a system that reacts to increases in pH, i.e. thiol-acrylate polymerization. Reaction diffusion hydrogel growth with agar and watermelon seed powder particles in a flow cell are also presented. The formed hydrogels are a bio-inspired analogue to biolfim formation.

Polymer-related applications of watermelon seed powder, a practical source of urease enzyme

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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