The taming of oxygen: biocatalytic oxyfunctionalisations

Artificial Photosynthesis: Hybrid Systems

Oxidoreductases are promising catalysts for organic synthesis. To sustain their catalytic cycles they require efficient supply with redox equivalents. Today classical biomimetic approaches utilizing natural electron supply chains prevail but artificial regeneration approaches bear the promise of simpler and more robust reaction schemes. Utilizing visible light can accelerate such artificial electron transport chains and even enable thermodynamically unfeasible reactions such as the use of water as reductant.This contribution critically summarizes the current state of the art in photoredoxbiocatalysis (i.e. light-driven biocatalytic oxidation and reduction reactions).

Development of Halogenase Enzymes for Use in Synthesis

Nature has evolved halogenase enzymes to regioselectively halogenate a diverse range of biosynthetic precursors, with the halogens introduced often having a profound effect on the biological activity of the resulting natural products. Synthetic endeavors to create non-natural bioactive small molecules for pharmaceutical and agrochemical applications have also arrived at a similar conclusion: halogens can dramatically improve the properties of organic molecules for selective modulation of biological targets in vivo. Consequently, a high proportion of pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals on the market today possess halogens. Halogenated organic compounds are also common intermediates in synthesis and are particularly valuable in metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. Despite the potential utility of organohalogens, traditional nonenzymatic halogenation chemistry utilizes deleterious reagents and often lacks regiocontrol. Reliable, facile, and cleaner methods for the regioselective halogenation of organic compounds are therefore essential in the development of economical and environmentally friendly industrial processes. A potential avenue toward such methods is the use of halogenase enzymes, responsible for the biosynthesis of halogenated natural products, as biocatalysts. This Review will discuss advances in developing halogenases for biocatalysis, potential untapped sources of such biocatalysts and how further optimization of these enzymes is required to achieve the goal of industrial scale biohalogenation.

Prospecting Biotechnologically-Relevant Monooxygenases from Cold Sediment Metagenomes: An In Silico Approach

The goal of this work was to identify sequences encoding monooxygenase biocatalysts with novel features by in silico mining an assembled metagenomic dataset of polar and subpolar marine sediments. The targeted enzyme sequences were Baeyer-Villiger and bacterial cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (CYP153). These enzymes have wide-ranging applications, from the synthesis of steroids, antibiotics, mycotoxins and pheromones to the synthesis of monomers for polymerization and anticancer precursors, due to their extraordinary enantio-, regio-, and chemo- selectivity that are valuable features for organic synthesis. Phylogenetic analyses were used to select the most divergent sequences affiliated to these enzyme families among the 264 putative monooxygenases recovered from the ~14 million protein-coding sequences in the assembled metagenome dataset. Three-dimensional structure modeling and docking analysis suggested features useful in biotechnological applications in five metagenomic sequences, such as wide substrate range, novel substrate specificity or regioselectivity. Further analysis revealed structural features associated with psychrophilic enzymes, such as broader substrate accessibility, larger catalytic pockets or low domain interactions, suggesting that they could be applied in biooxidations at room or low temperatures, saving costs inherent to energy consumption. This work allowed the identification of putative enzyme candidates with promising features from metagenomes, providing a suitable starting point for further developments.

Pathways for Arene Oxidation in Non-Heme Diiron Enzymes: Lessons from Computational Studies on Benzoyl Coenzyme A Epoxidase

Oxygenation of aromatic rings using O₂ is catalyzed by several non-heme carboxylate-bridged diiron enzymes. In order to provide a general mechanistic description for these reactions, computational studies were carried out at the ONIOM(B3LYP/BP86/Amber) level on the non-heme diiron enzyme benzoyl coenzyme A epoxidase, BoxB. The calculations revealed four possible pathways for attacking the aromatic ring: (a) electrophilic (2e^-) attack by a bis(μ-oxo)-diiron(IV) species (Q pathway); (b) electrophilic (2e^-) attack via the σ* orbital of a μ-η²:η²-peroxo-diiron(III) intermediate (Pσ* pathway); (c) radical (1e^-) attack via the π*-orbital of a superoxo-diiron(II,III) species (Pπ* pathway); (d) radical (1e^-) attack of a partially quenched bis(μ-oxo)-diiron(IV) intermediate (Q' pathway). The results allowed earlier work of de Visser on olefin epoxidation by diiron complexes and QM-cluster studies of Liao and Siegbahn on BoxB to be put into a broader perspective. Parallels with epoxidation using organic peracids were also examined. Specifically for the BoxB enzyme, the Q pathway was found to be the most preferred, but the corresponding bis(μ-oxo)-diiron(IV) species is significantly destabilized and not expected to be directly observable. Epoxidation via the Pσ* pathway represents an energetically somewhat higher lying alternative; possible strategies for experimental discrimination are discussed. The selectivity toward epoxidation is shown to stem from a combination of inherent electronic properties of the thioacyl substituent and enzymatic constraints. Possible implications of the results for toluene monooxygenases are considered as well.

Cascade Biocatalysis for Sustainable Asymmetric Synthesis: From Biobased l-Phenylalanine to High-Value Chiral Chemicals

Sustainable synthesis of useful and valuable chiral fine chemicals from renewable feedstocks is highly desirable but remains challenging. Reported herein is a designed and engineered set of unique non-natural biocatalytic cascades to achieve the asymmetric synthesis of chiral epoxide, diols, hydroxy acid, and amino acid in high yield and with excellent ee values from the easily available biobased l-phenylalanine. Each of the cascades was efficiently performed in one pot by using the cells of a single recombinant strain over-expressing 4-10 different enzymes. The cascade biocatalysis approach is promising for upgrading biobased bulk chemicals to high-value chiral chemicals. In addition, combining the non-natural enzyme cascades with the natural metabolic pathway of the host strain enabled the fermentative production of the chiral fine chemicals from glucose.

The Oxygen Dilemma: A Severe Challenge for the Application of Monooxygenases?

Monooxygenases are promising catalysts because they in principle enable the organic chemist to perform highly selective oxyfunctionalisation reactions that are otherwise difficult to achieve. For this, monooxygenases require reducing equivalents, to allow reductive activation of molecular oxygen at the enzymes' active sites. However, these reducing equivalents are often delivered to O2 either directly or via a reduced intermediate (uncoupling), yielding hazardous reactive oxygen species and wasting valuable reducing equivalents. The oxygen dilemma arises from monooxygenases' dependency on O2 and the undesired uncoupling reaction. With this contribution we hope to generate a general awareness of the oxygen dilemma and to discuss its nature and some promising solutions.

Light-driven Enzymatic Decarboxylation

Oxidoreductases belong to the most-applied industrial enzymes. Nevertheless, they need external electrons whose supply is often costly and challenging. Recycling of the electron donors NADH or NADPH requires the use of additional enzymes and sacrificial substrates. Interestingly, several oxidoreductases accept hydrogen peroxide as electron donor. While being inexpensive, this reagent often reduces the stability of enzymes. A solution to this problem is the in situ generation of the cofactor. The continuous supply of the cofactor at low concentration drives the reaction without impairing enzyme stability. This paper demonstrates a method for the light-catalyzed in situ generation of hydrogen peroxide with the example of the heme-dependent fatty acid decarboxylase OleTJE. The fatty acid decarboxylase OleTJE was discovered due to its unique ability to produce long-chain 1-alkenes from fatty acids, a hitherto unknown enzymatic reaction. 1-alkenes are widely used additives for plasticizers and lubricants. OleTJE has been shown to accept electrons from hydrogen peroxide for the oxidative decarboxylation. While addition of hydrogen peroxide damages the enzyme and results in low yields, in situ generation of the cofactor circumvents this problem. The photobiocatalytic system shows clear advantages regarding enzyme activity and yield, resulting in a simple and efficient system for fatty acid decarboxylation.

Continuous cyclohexane oxidation to cyclohexanol using a novel cytochrome P450 monooxygenase from Acidovorax sp. CHX100 in recombinant P. taiwanensis VLB120 biofilms

The applications of biocatalysts in chemical industries are characterized by activity, selectivity, and stability. One key strategy to achieve high biocatalytic activity is the identification of novel enzymes with kinetics optimized for organic synthesis by Nature. The isolation of novel cytochrome P450 monooxygenase genes from Acidovorax sp. CHX100 and their functional expression in recombinant Pseudomonas taiwanensis VLB120 enabled efficient oxidation of cyclohexane to cyclohexanol. Although initial resting cell activities of 20 U gCDW (-1) were achieved, the rapid decrease in catalytic activity due to the toxicity of cyclohexane prevented synthetic applications. Cyclohexane toxicity was reduced and cellular activities stabilized over the reaction time by delivering the toxic substrate through the vapor phase and by balancing the aqueous phase mass transfer with the cellular conversion rate. The potential of this novel CYP enzyme was exploited by transferring the shake flask reaction to an aqueous-air segmented flow biofilm membrane reactor for maximizing productivity. Cyclohexane was continuously delivered via the silicone membrane. This ensured lower reactant toxicity and continuous product formation at an average volumetric productivity of 0.4 g L tube (-1) h(-1) for several days. This highlights the potential of combining a powerful catalyst with a beneficial reactor design to overcome critical issues of cyclohexane oxidation to cyclohexanol. It opens new opportunities for biocatalytic transformations of compounds which are toxic, volatile, and have low solubility in water.

Hot off the press

A personal selection of 32 recent papers is presented covering various aspects of current developments in bioorganic chemistry and novel natural products such as forazoline A from an Actinomadura species.

The role of molecular oxygen in the iron(iii)-promoted oxidative dehydrogenation of amines

A mechanistic study is presented of the oxidative dehydrogenation of the iron(iii) complex [Fe^IIIL³]³⁺, 1, (L³ = 1,9-bis(2′-pyridyl)-5-[(ethoxy-2′′-pyridyl)methyl]-2,5,8-triazanonane) in ethanol in the presence of molecular oxygen.

Specific oxyfunctionalisations catalysed by peroxygenases: opportunities, challenges and solutions

Peroxygenases are promising oxyfunctionalisation catalysts for organic synthesis.

Expanding the toolbox of organic chemists: directed evolution of P450 monooxygenases as catalysts in regio- and stereoselective oxidative hydroxylation

Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) have been used for more than six decades as catalysts for the CH-activating oxidative hydroxylation of organic compounds with formation of added-value products.

Biocatalytic route to chiral acyloins: P450-catalyzed regio- and enantioselective α-hydroxylation of ketones

P450-BM3 and mutants of this monooxygenase generated by directed evolution are excellent catalysts for the oxidative α-hydroxylation of ketones with formation of chiral acyloins with high regioselectivity (up to 99%) and enantioselectivity (up to 99% ee). This constitutes a new route to a class of chiral compounds that are useful intermediates in the synthesis of many kinds of biologically active compounds.

CH-activating oxidative hydroxylation of 1-tetralones and related compounds with high regio- and stereoselectivity

Mutants of P450-BM3 evolved by directed evolution are excellent catalysts in the CH-activating oxidative hydroxylation of 1-tetralone derivatives and of indanone, with unusually high regio- and enantioselectivity being observed.