A preliminary study of using maleic anhydride copolymer for protein binding has been carried out. The polymeric films were prepared by compression of the purified resin and annealing the film to induce efficient back formation of the anhydride groups. The properties of the film surface were analyzed by attenuated total reflection Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy and water contact angle measurements. The protein content was determined by Bradford assay. To obtain optimum conditions, immersion time for protein binding was examined. Results revealed that proteins can be successfully immobilized onto the film surface via covalent linkage. The efficiency of the covalent binding of the extractable protein to maleic anhydride-polyethylene film was estimated at 69.87 μg/cm 2, although the film had low anhydride content (3%) on the surface. © 2012 Chinese Chemical Society Institute of Chemistry, CAS Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.