Lim CR, Lee HY, Uhm KN, Kim HK. Production of 4-Ethyl Malate through Position-Specific Hydrolysis of
Photobacterium lipolyticum M37 Lipase.
J Microbiol Biotechnol 2022;
32:672-679. [PMID:
35354762 PMCID:
PMC9628889 DOI:
10.4014/jmb.2112.12055]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2021] [Revised: 03/03/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Microbial lipases are used widely in the synthesis of various compounds due to their substrate specificity and position specificity. 4-Ethyl malate (4-EM) made from diethyl malate (DEM) is an important starting material used to make argon fluoride (ArF) photoresist. We tested several microbial lipases and found that Photobacterium lipolyticum M37 lipase position-specifically hydrolyzed DEM to produce 4-EM. We purified the reaction product through silica gel chromatography and confirmed that it was 4-EM through nuclear magnetic resonance analysis. To mass-produce 4-EM, DEM hydrolysis reaction was performed using an enzyme reactor system that could automatically control the temperature and pH. Effects of temperature and pH on the reaction process were investigated. As a result, 50°C and pH 4.0 were confirmed as optimal reaction conditions, meaning that M37 was specifically an acid lipase. When the substrate concentration was increased to 6% corresponding to 0.32 M, the reaction yield reached almost 100%. When the substrate concentration was further increased to 12%, the reaction yield was 81%. This enzyme reactor system and position-specific M37 lipase can be used to mass-produce 4-EM, which is required to synthesize ArF photoresist.
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