Accelerating Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Chitin by Microwave Pretreatment

Response surface analysis was used to determine optimum conditions [2% (w/v) chitin, 57.5 °C, 38 min] for microwave irradiation of chitin to improve its enzymatic hydrolysis. Vmax/Km of cabbage chitinase toward untreated and microwave‐irradiated chitin was found to be 21.1 and 31.7 nmol h‐1 mg‐2 mL, respectively. Similar improvement was observed in the case of pectinase in its unusual catalytic activity of chitin degradation. It was found that a greater extent of chitin hydrolysis by chitinase was possible after the substrate chitin was irradiated with microwaves.