Industrial Organic Chemistry and Biotechnology
Overview
The use of biocatalysts in the form of whole cells, crude extracts or isolated enzymes can be very beneficial
as highly efficient and easy to obtain compounds can be produced, a narrow or broad substrate spectrum can be used as required and
superb enantiomeric excesses can be achieved. The solvent of choice is usually aqueous buffer, which also speaks to the
environmental benefits of biocatalysis. While the use of water as a solvent seems to be very promising, there can still be some
limitations as solubility can hinder certain process steps, which is why we combine the use of biocatalysts with either
compartmentalization of reactions, the use of emulsifiers or immobilization of biocatalysts.
Biocatalysis is not exclusively used in academia, however also in industry, as it offers not only environmental and health
benefits, but can also be economically advantageous. Production can range from low-budget, high-volume products to high-cost,
low-volume products, such as in pharmaceuticals, where high selectivity to reduce side reactions is highly important. Over the
years, we have focused on various enzymes for so-called biotransformations. Among them, alcohol dehydrogenases, aldoxime
dehydratases, iminoreductases and fatty acid hydratases are currently the most commonly used in our group.
Since biocatalysis is often considered for low volume products, we wanted to show that this statement is not valid at all.
Therefore, we focused on the process optimization of aldoxime dehydratases to increase the substrate loading to 1.4 kg/L.
10.1021/acs.joc.9b00184
Molecular Modelling
Today, molecular modelling has become an essential part of protein engineering. The possibility to visualize and understand various enzyme reactions is a powerful tool for biocatalytic reactions and protein engineering. In our research, we are using molecular modelling to rationalize uncommon findings, which cannot be explained just by wet lab experiments. Using our in-silico tools we are then not only able to understand the catalytic activity of enzymes, but also to improve their performance for our needs.