FWF - BioZone - Bioinspired alkene cleavage

The aim of this project is to develop a biological (enzyme-assisted) method for splitting carbon / carbon double bonds without the use of the dangerous ‘ozone’. The so-called ozonolysis is a widely used method for the production of so-called "carbonyl compounds". Such carbon / carbon double bond containing compounds can be starting materials to make such as flavor compounds like vanillin or fragrances like Lilial. Ozonolyis is mainly used on a laboratory scale. The reason for this is the toxicity of ozone and the danger of the intermediate products, which are not safe: Some of themhave already caused industrial reactors to explode. We want to find and investigate a safe alternative with enzymes that can split C = C double bonds at room temperature, in water and by means of oxygen. We use a high-throughput detection method that is specifically designed for the detection of aldehydes (carbonyl compounds) in order to examine different protein sequences for their ability to split C = C double bonds. This detection method is highly sensitive, completely independent of structure, easy to use and extremely specific for aldehydes. With this detection method in combination with a special technique, it is possible to examine up to a million protein sequences in a day. It is thus possible to examine known enzymes for their substrate diversity and new enzymes for their activity in a very short time, as quantitatively as possible. After suitable enzymes have been found, we will use them for the production of potential new active pharmaceutical ingredients or flavorings.