Effects of Acrylonitrile and Acrylamide on Nitrile Hydratase Action of Brevibacterium sp. CH1 and CH2

The effects of acrylonitrile and acrylamide on the enzyme action of nitrile hydratase of Brevibacterium sp. CH1 and CH2 strains used for the biotransformations of nitriles were studied. The excessive substrate (acrylonitrile) and product (acrylamide) inhibited the enzyme activity competitively. In comparison with 0.2 mol/l of CH1 strain, the substrate inhibition of CH2 strain began to appear only at a high acrylonitrile concentration of 0.91 mol/l. In a packed bed reactor, dispersed plug flow model was proposed and this model was proved to be valid by the experiment. Also acrylamide productivity decreased sharply when acrylamide concentration in the substrate solution exceeded 20％ (wt/v).