Abstract
Oxyfunctionalization of fatty acids (FAs) is a key step in the design of novel synthetic pathways for biobased/biodegradable polymers, surfactants and fuels. Here, we show the isolation and characterization of a robust FA α-hydroxylase (P450Jα) which catalyses the selective conversion of a broad range of FAs (C6:0-C16:0) and oleic acid (C18:1) with H2O2 as oxidant. Under optimized reaction conditions P450Jα yields α-hydroxy acids all with >95 % regioselectivity, high specific activity (up to 15.2 U mg−1) and efficient coupling of oxidant to product (up to 85 %). Lauric acid (C12:0) turned out to be an excellent substrate with respect to productivity (TON=394 min−1). On preparative scale, conversion of C12:0 reached 83 % (0.9 g L−1) when supplementing H2O2 in fed-batch mode. Under similar conditions P450Jα allowed further the first biocatalytic α-hydroxylation of oleic acid (88 % conversion on 100 mL scale) at high selectivity and in good yields (1.1 g L−1; 79 % isolated yield). Unexpectedly, P450Jα displayed also 1-alkene formation from shorter chain FAs (≤C10:0) showing that oxidative decarboxylation is more widely distributed across this enzyme family than reported previously.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 15910-15921 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Chemistry - a European Journal |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 68 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 4 Dec 2020 |
Keywords
- alpha-hydroxylation
- biocatalysis
- fatty acids
- oleic acid
- P450 peroxygenases
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Catalysis
- Organic Chemistry