SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC STUDY THE LACCASE OXIDATION OF PHENOL

The kinetics the laccase oxidation of phenol in a wide range of initial substrate concentrations was studied using the spectrophotometric method for product accumulation. The resulting product is not typical for phenol autoxidation; the rates of phenol autoxidation in aqueous media at different pH values are very low. One of the intermediate oxidation products is a quinoid substance, and at deep stages of conversion, a polymeric product is probably formed and precipitated. The kinetics of the enzymatic process, observed by product accumulation, is not described by the Michaelis-Menten equation.