Temperature‐Directed Biocatalysis for the Sustainable Production of Aromatic Aldehydes or Alcohols. Issue 5 (8th December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ni, Jun; Gao, Yan‐Yan; Tao, Fei; Liu, Hong‐Yu; Xu, Ping
• Is Part Of: Angewandte Chemie international edition. Volume 57:Issue 5(2018)
• Page Start: 1214
• Page End: 1217
• Publication Date: 2017-12-08
• Subjects: alcohols -- aldehyde -- biocatalysis -- enzymes -- lignin -- vanillin; Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201710793
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1433-7851

Abstract

Abstract: The biosynthesis of aromatic aldehydes and alcohols from renewable resources is currently receiving considerable attention because of an increase in demand, finite fossil resources, and growing environmental concerns. Here, a temperature‐directed whole‐cell catalyst was developed by using two novel enzymes from a thermophilic actinomycete. Ferulic acid, a model lignin derivative, was efficiently converted into vanillyl alcohol at a reaction temperature at 30 °C. However, when the temperature was increased to 50 °C, ferulic acid was mainly converted into vanillin with a productivity of 1.1 g L −1 h −1 . This is due to the fact that the redundant endogenous alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs) are not active at this temperature while the functional enzymes from the thermophilic strain remain active. As the biocatalyst could convert many other renewable cinnamic acid derivatives into their corresponding aromatic aldehydes/alcohols, this novel strategy may be extended to generate a vast array of valuable aldehydes or alcohols. Abstract : By using two novel enzymes from a thermophilic actinomycete, a whole‐cell catalyst was constructed for the sustainable production of aromatic aldehydes or alcohols from renewable cinnamic acid derivatives. Ferulic acid was converted into vanillyl alcohol at 30 °C whereas the same reaction mainly gave vanillin at 50 °C because the endogenous alcohol dehydrogenases are not active at this temperature.