Enzyme-synthetic polyampholyte systems

Polyampholytes, prepared by copolymerization of 2-(N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate and methacrylic acid, increase the urease activity over a large pH range, when the acid content is between 24 and 68 mol-%, while the activity of the enzyme is inhibited by polyampholytes having more than 84 mol-% of methacrylic acid groups. The enzyme reaction induces conformational changes of the polyampholyte chain resulting from a pH increase due to the formation of ammonium carbonate. The contraction of the macromolecule was followed by viscometry and by the volume change of a cross-linked analogous polyampholyte gel.