Substrate channeling, where an intermediate in a multistep reaction is directed toward a reaction center rather than freely diffusing, offers several advantages when employed in catalytic cascades. Here we present a fusion enzyme comprised of an alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase, that is computationally designed to facilitate electrostatic substrate channeling using a cationic linker bridging the two structures. Rosetta protein folding software was utilized to determine an optimal linker placement, added to the truncated termini of the proteins, which is as close as possible to the active sites of the enzymes without disrupting critical catalytic residues. With improvements in stability, product selectivity (90%), and catalyst turnover frequency, representing 500-fold increased activity compared to the unbound enzymes and nearly 140-fold for a neutral-linked fusion enzyme, this design strategy holds promise for making other multistep catalytic processes more sustainable and efficient.

N-Oxyl reagents, particularly 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine 1-oxyl (TEMPO), have been extensively used for alcohol oxidations. While TEMPOmediated oxidations are kinetically and thermodynamically favorable in high-pH electrolytes, base-induced degradation often results in significant loss of catalytic activity. Herein, we demonstrate enhanced alkaline stability of a TEMPO derivative in ionic liquids (ILs). By incorporating TEMPO in an imidazoleanchored IL, no loss of current was observed at pH 10.0 after 2.0 h during the oxidation of butanol and glycerol, while TEMPO in polycaprolactone (PCL), a patternable binder material, degraded 58.5% and 67.1%, respectively. The stability enhancement was further demonstrated by analyzing the conversion of glycerol in an 800 μL electrochemical cell using bulk chemical analysis techniques. Successive cycles of glycerol oxidation indicated 14-fold stability enhancement by applying IL in a TEMPO electrode composite in comparison to PCL. The strategy demonstrated here provides an opportunity to prepare catalytic systems with enhanced stability. Further, this method provides the ability to convert what are typically homogeneous catalysts to heterogeneous systems.