A molecular mechanism of enantiorecognition of tertiary alcohols by carboxylesterases

Carboxylesterases containing the sequence motif GGGX catalyze the hydrolysis of esters of chiral tertiary alcohols, albeit with only low to moderate enantioselectivity, for three model substrates (linalyl acetate, methyl-1-pentin-1-yl acetate, 2-phenyl-3-butin-2-yl acetate). In order to understand the molecular mechanism of enantiorecognition and to improve enantioselectivity for this interesting substrate class, the interaction of both enantiomers with the substrate binding sites of acetylcholinesterases and p-nitrobenzyl esterase from Bacillus subtilis was modeled and correlated to experimental enantioselectivity. For all substrate-enzyme pairs, enantiopreference and ranking by enantioselectivity could be predicted by the model. In p-nitrobenzyl esterase, one of the key residues in determining enantioselectivity was G105: exchange of this amino acid for an alanine residue led to a sixfold increase of enantioselectivity (E = 19) towards 2-phenyl-3-butin-2-yl acetate. However, the effect of this mutation is specific: the same mutant had the opposite enantiopreference towards the substrate linalyl acetate. Thus, depending on the substrate structure, the same mutant has either increased enantioselectivity or opposite enantiopreference compared to the wild-type enzyme.     

Ultrahigh-throughput screening to identify E. coli cells expressing functionally active enzymes on their surface

We show here that E. coli bacteria that display esterases or lipases on their cell surface together with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) are capable of hydrolysing carboxylic acid esters of biotin tyramide. The tyramide radicals generated by the coupled lipase-peroxidase reaction were short-lived and therefore became covalently attached to reactive tyrosine residues that were located in close vicinity on the surface of a bacterial cell that displayed lipase activity. Up to 120 000 biotinylated tyramide derivatives could be covalently coupled through HRP activation to the surface of a single living E. coli cell. Differences in cellular esterase activity were found to correlate with the amount of biotin tyramide deposited on the cell surface. Selective biotin tyramide labelling of cells that had lipase activity allowed their isolation by magnetic cell sorting from a 1:10(6) mixture of control cells. This strategy of covalently attaching a biotin label to esterase-proficient bacteria might open new avenues to ultrahigh-throughput screening of enzyme libraries for hydrolytic enzymes with enhanced activities or enantioselectivities.     

Directed evolution of an esterase from Pseudomonas fluorescens yields a mutant with excellent enantioselectivity and activity for the kinetic resolution of a chiral building block

A triple mutant of an esterase from Pseudomonas fluorescens (PFE) that was created by directed evolution exhibited high enantioselectivity (E=89) in a kinetic resolution and yielded the building block (S)-but-3-yn-2-ol. Surprisingly, a mutation close to the active site caused the formation of inclusion bodies, but remote mutations were found to be responsible for the high selectivity. Back mutations gave a variant (double mutant PFE Ile76Val/Val175Ala) that showed excellent selectivity (E=96) and activity (20 min for 50% conversion, which corresponds to 1.25 U per mg of protein).     

Enzymatic synthesis of optically active ferrocenes by immobilized lipase from Candida Antarctica

Immobilized lipase (Candida Antarctica lipase, CAL) efficiently catalyzes the transesterification and amidation of the racemic ferrocenes, 1‐hydroxyethylferrocene, (±)‐ 1 , 1‐hydroxy[3](1,1′) ferrocenophane, (±)‐ 4 , 1‐amonoethylferrocene, (±)‐ 2 , and 1‐amono[3](1,1′) ferrocenophane, (±)‐ 5 , with acyl esters, resulting in the formation of R products possessing high enantiomeric purity. When 1‐hydroxyethylferrocene, (±)‐ 1 , and 1‐hydroxy[3](1,1′) ferrocenophane, (±)‐ 4 , was used as substrate diisopropyl ether was a suitable solvent. In the reaction conditions investigated, the use of vinyl acetate in diisopropyl ether gave the best yield of (R)‐ 1a (49%, 99% ee) after 2 h of incubation at 30 °C. But, with the amino ferrocenes, 1‐amonoethylferrocene, (±)‐ 2 , and 1‐amono[3](1,1′) ferrocenophane, (±)‐ 5 , as substrate, diisopropyl ether was unsuitable as a solvent owing to the low solubility of the substrate in this solvent. Using tetrahydrofuran as a solvent, enzymatic amidation of 1‐amonoethylferrocene, (±)‐ 2 , gave the best yield of (R)‐ 2a (21%, 99% ee) after 120 h of incubation at 30 °C. CAL working in organic solvent is able to efficiently carry out the resolution of ferrocenyl alcohol and amine derivatives which have similar structures, such as (±)‐ 1 and (±)‐ 2 , (±)‐ 4 and (±)‐ 5 which possess central chirality. This enzyme accepted only non‐bulky primary alcohols and amines as ferrocenyl substrates. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry     

Enzymatic production of alkyl esters through alcoholysis: A critical evaluation of lipases and alcohols

This paper focuses on a detailed evaluation of commercially available immobilized lipases and simple monohydric alcohols for the production of alkyl esters from sunflower oil by enzymatic alcoholysis. Six lipases were tested with seven alcohols, including straight and branched-chain primary and secondary alcohols. The reactions were conducted in a batch stirred reaction vessel using stoichiometric amounts of substrates under solvent-free conditions. Dramatic differences in alcoholysis performance were observed among the different lipases. For most of the alcohols, Novozym 435 produced the highest yield of FA alkyl esters, with yields well over 90% for methanol, absolute ethanol, and 1-propanol. Overall, 96% ethanol was the preferred alcohol for all lipases except Novozym 435, and ethanolysis reactions reached the maximal conversion efficiency. Increasing the water content in the system resulted in an increased degree of conversion for all lipases except Novozym 435. The secondary alcohol 2-propanol significantly reduced the alcoholysis reaction with all lipases; however, the branch-chain isobutanol was more advantageous than linear 1-butanol for Novozym 435, Lipozyme RMIM, and Lipase PS-C. Many commercial immobilized lipases are highly efficient and promising for the production of alkyl esters, offering high reaction yields and a simple operation process.     

Highly enantioselective kinetic resolution of two tertiary alcohols using mutants of an esterase from Bacillus subtilis

Enzyme-catalyzed kinetic resolutions of secondary alcohols are a standard procedure today and several lipases and esterases have been described to show high activity and enantioselectivity. In contrast, tertiary alcohols and their esters are accepted only by a few biocatalysts. Only lipases and esterases with a conserved GGG(A)X-motif are active, but show low activity combined with low enantioselectivity in the hydrolysis of tertiary alcohol esters. We show in this work that the problematic autohydrolysis of certain compounds can be overcome by medium and substrate engineering. Thus, 3-phenylbut-1-yn-3-yl acetate was hydrolyzed by the esterase from Bacillus subtilis (BS2, mutant Gly105Ala) with an enantioselectivity of E = 56 in the presence of 20% (v/v) DMSO compared to E = 28 without a cosolvent. Molecular modeling was used to study the interactions between BS2 and tertiary alcohol esters in their transition state in the active site of the enzyme. Guided by molecular modeling, enzyme variants with highly increased enantioselectivity were created. For example, a Glu188Asp mutant converted the trifluoromethyl analog of 3-phenylbut-1-yn-3-yl acetate with an excellent enantioselectivity (E > 100) yielding the (S)-alcohol with > 99%ee. In summary, protein engineering combined with medium and substrate engineering afforded tertiary alcohols of very high enantiomeric purity.     

高能球磨对CuCo/ZrO2催化剂合成低碳醇性能的影响

研究高能球磨技术对浸渍法制备CuCo/ZrO2催化剂结构与合成低碳醇性能的影响,借助N2吸附-脱附等温线、扫描电镜、X射线衍射和程序升温还原等测试技术对催化剂进行表征,并以CO加氢合成低碳醇为模型反应对其催化性能进行评价.研究结果表明,催化剂制备过程中引入高能球磨技术可显著提高CuCo/ZrO2催化剂的CO转化率和C2...     

Enzymatic synthesis of structured lipids: Transesterification of triolein and caprylic acid ethyl ester

Structured lipids were successfully synthesized by lipase-catalyzed transesterification (ester interchange) of caprylic acid ethyl ester and triolein. The transesterification reaction was carried out in organic solvent as reaction media. Eight commercially-available lipases (10% w/w substrates) were screened for their ability to synthesize structured lipid by incubating with 100 mg triolein and 78.0 mg caprylic acid ethyl ester in 3 mL hexane at 45°C for 24 h. The products were analyzed by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light-scattering detector. Immobilized lipase IM60 fromRhizomucor miehei converted most triolein into structured lipids (41.7% dicapryloolein, 46.0% monocapryloolein, and 12.3% unreacted triolein). However, lipase SP435 fromCandida antarctica had a higher activity at higher temperature. The reaction catalyzed by lipase SP435 yielded 62.0% dicapryloolein, 33.5% monocapryloolein, and 4.5% unreacted triolein at 55°C. Time course, incubation media, added water, and substrate concentration were also investigated in this study. The results suggest that lipase-catalyzed transesterification of long-chain triglycerides and medium-chain fatty acid ethyl ester is feasible to synthesize structured lipids.     

Organocatalytic formation of optically active polymers: enantioselective aldol reaction of aldehyde‐containing copolymers in the presence of l‐proline

Monomers containing benzaldehyde units were synthesized by esterification of 4‐hydroxybenzaldehyde and 4‐(2‐hydroxyethoxy)benzaldehyde with methacryloyl chloride. These monomers were copolymerized free radically with N‐isopropylacrylamide using 2,2′‐azobis(2‐methylpropionitrile) as an initiator. The monomers and copolymers, respectively, were modified with acetone in an organocatalytic aldol reaction in the presence of l ‐proline to induce stereogenic centers. The aldol condensates were characterized by their optical rotatory power. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry     

Insight into the Structure and Activity of Surface-Engineered Lipase Biofluids

Despite a successful application of solvent-free liquid protein (biofluids) concept to a number of commercial enzymes, the technical advantages of enzyme biofluids as hyperthermal stable biocatalysts cannot be fully utilized as up to 90–99% of native activities are lost when enzymes were made into biofluids. With a two-step strategy (site-directed mutagenesis and synthesis of variant biofluids) on Bacillus subtilis lipase A (BsLA), we elucidated a strong dependency of structure and activity on the number and distribution of polymer surfactant binding sites on BsLA surface. Here, it is demonstrated that improved BsLA variants can be engineered via site-mutagenesis by a rational design, either with enhanced activity in aqueous solution in native form, or with improved physical property and increased activity in solvent-free system in the form of a protein liquid. This work answered some fundamental questions about the surface characteristics for construction of biofluids, useful for identifying new strategies for developing advantageous biocatalysts.     

醛与胺均相催化合成三级酰胺研究进展

酰胺类化合物是材料科学、化学生物学及药物化学中重要的有机化合物。醛容易得到且毒性较小,出于原子经济性考虑是合成酰胺的合适原料。近年来,随着绿色化学的兴起,利用醛作为酰化试剂,通过C—H键活化方式合成酰胺键的方法得到广泛关注。研究方法中,有机小分子、过渡金属、稀土盐或配合物的催化起到重要作用,纳米催化剂的催化在酰胺键形成方法的研究也有突破。纳米粒子应用于醛与胺合成三级酰胺的反应有金属胶体纳米催化剂(准均相型)和磁性非均相型。非均相催化剂的优势在于其较高的回收使用率,易与产物分离,便于回收再利用。磁性纳米材料与以往的均相催化剂相比,分离和回收更加简单方便,重复利用率更高,但催化剂表征受到限制。探索制备方法简单、操作步骤方便和催化效果显著的普通多相纳米催化剂是未来应用于催化醛合成酰胺的新领域。综述近年来利用醛作为酰化试剂,通过C—H键活化的方式,与铵盐、二级胺、三级胺和酰胺反应合成三级酰胺化合物的方法,并总结相关反应机理。     

新型气体净化溶剂叔胺烷基聚醚的合成研究

以二甲基氨基乙醇和环氧乙烷开环加成,反应得到的二甲基多乙二醇胺,经威廉森醚化封端,醇盐化剂为氢氧化钠,醚化剂为氯甲烷,制得二甲基多乙二醇甲醚胺。考察了原料配比、醚化温度、搅拌速率和醚化时间对醚化度的影响。醚化产物通过羟值进行定量分析,采用电位滴定,建立滴定曲线确定滴定终点。结果表明:在醚化反应中,当氢氧化钠与二甲基多乙二醇胺的摩尔比为1.2∶1,醚化温度70℃,搅拌速率300 r/min,醚化时间4 h,溶剂用量为固液原料总质量的25%时,醚化度达98%以上。     

Increasing the Reaction Rate of Hydroxynitrile Lyase from Hevea brasiliensis toward Mandelonitrile by Copying Active Site Residues from an Esterase that Accepts Aromatic Esters

The natural substrate of hydroxynitrile lyase from rubber tree (HbHNL, Hevea brasiliensis) is acetone cyanohydrin, but synthetic applications usually involve aromatic cyanohydrins such as mandelonitrile. To increase the activity of HbHNL toward this unnatural substrate, we replaced active site residues in HbHNL with the corresponding ones from esterase SABP2 (salicylic acid binding protein 2). Although this enzyme catalyzes a different reaction (hydrolysis of esters), its natural substrate (methyl salicylate) contains an aromatic ring. Three of the eleven single‐amino‐acid‐substitution variants of HbHNL reacted more rapidly with mandelonitrile. The best was HbHNL‐L121Y, with a k_cat 4.2 times higher and high enantioselectivity. Site‐saturation mutagenesis at position 121 identified three other improved variants. We hypothesize that the smaller active site orients the aromatic substrate more productively.     

K/Ni/β-Mo2C: A highly active and selective catalyst for higher alcohols synthesis from CO hydrogenation

Nickel and potassium promoted β-Mo₂C catalysts were prepared for CO hydrogenation to higher alcohols synthesis. The results revealed that β-Mo₂C produced mainly hydrocarbons, but the addition of potassium resulted in a remarkable selectivity shift from hydrocarbons to alcohols over β-Mo₂C. Moreover, it was found that potassium enhanced the ability of chain propagation of β-Mo₂C catalyst and led to a higher selectivity to C₂⁺OH. The addition of nickel further enhanced higher alcohols synthesis, which showed the optimum at 1/8–1/6 of Ni/Mo molar ratios. The characterization suggested that there might be a synergistic effect of potassium and nickel on β-Mo₂C, which favored the alcohols synthesis. The production of alcohols appeared to be relevant to the presence of Mo⁴⁺ species, whereas the formation of hydrocarbons was closely associated with Mo²⁺ and/or Mo⁰ species on the surface of β-Mo₂C-based catalysts.     

Revealing the Roles of Subdomains in the Catalytic Behavior of Lipases/Acyltransferases Homologous to CpLIP2 through Rational Design of Chimeric Enzymes

The lipases/acyltransferases homologous to CpLIP2 of Candida parapsilosis efficiently catalyze acyltransfer reactions in lipid/water media with high water activity (a_W>0.9). Two new enzymes of this family, CduLAc from Candida dubliniensis and CalLAc8 from Candida albicans, were characterized. Despite 82 % sequence identity, the two enzymes have significant differences in their catalytic behaviors. In order to understand the roles played by the different subdomains of these proteins (main core, cap and C‐terminal flap), chimeric enzymes were designed by rational exchange of cap and C‐terminal flap, between CduLAc and CalLAc8. The results show that the cap region plays a significant role in substrate specificity; the main core was found to be the most important part of the protein for acyltransfer ability. Similar exchanges were made with CAL‐A from Candida antarctica, but only the C‐terminal exchange was successful. Yet, the role of this domain was not clearly elucidated, other than that it is essential for activity.     

Autodisplay of active sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH) yields a whole cell biocatalyst for the synthesis of rare sugars

Whole cell biocatalysts are attractive technological tools for the regio- and enantioselective synthesis of products, especially from substrates with several identical reactive groups. In the present study, a whole cell biocatalyst for the synthesis of rare sugars from polyalcohols was constructed. For this purpose, sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH) from Rhodobacter sphaeroides, a member of the short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) family, was expressed on the surface of Escherichia coli using Autodisplay. Autodisplay is an efficient surface display system for Gram-negative bacteria and is based on the autotransporter secretion pathway. Transport of SDH to the outer membrane was monitored by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting of different cell fractions. The surface exposure of the enzyme could be verified by immunofluorescence microscopy and fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS). The activity of whole cells displaying SDH at the surface was determined in an optical test. Specific activities were found to be 12 mU per 3.3 x 10(8) cells for the conversion of D-glucitol (sorbitol) to D-fructose, 7 mU for the conversion D-galactitol to D-tagatose, and 17 mU for the conversion of L-arabitol to L-ribulose. The whole cell biocatalyst obtained by surface display of SDH could also produce D-glucitol from D-fructose (29 mU per 3.3 x 10(8) cells).