Impact of microwave irradiation on enzymatic activity at constant bulk temperature is enzyme dependent
Abstract Microwave heating has been shown to be an effective method in promoting certain chemical reactions. We previously showed that exposure of trypsin from porcine pancreas and its substrate to low power microwave, while the bulk temperature is kept constant, leads to significant increases of the activity of trypsin. We report here that acceleration of enzymatic reactions by microwave at constant bulk temperature is enzyme dependent. In this regard, the enzymatic activity of a amylase and alkaline phosphatase towards the hydrolysis of starch and 4 nitrophenyl phosphate is not affected by exposure to microwave (10 W) while the reaction temperature is maintained unchanged.